KIGALI - The Government, through the Ministry of Finance, and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, yesterday signed a grant agreement worth €10m.

Part of the grant worth €7m will be channelled towards the general budgetary support while the additional €3m will be used to support public financial management systems in the 2011/2012 fiscal year. Both are to be implemented through the German Development Bank (KFW).

The agreement paving way for the disbursement of the funds was signed between Finance Minister John Rwangombwa, and Wolfgang Wiesner, the Charge’ d’Affairs at the German Embassy in Kigali and Dr. Daniela Beckmann, the Director of KFW in Rwanda.

Speaking at the ceremony, Rwangombwa hailed the German government for its continued support towards the development of Rwanda.

"This is one of the key partnerships we have with the German government and one that enhances the current good friendly relations between the two countries,” he said.

"Germany is one of the countries that immediately came to support us after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. We appreciate that it is one of the countries that is giving us general budget support, which is the preferred modality for disbursing aid”.

Rwangombwa stressed that the grant would strengthen the public financial management systems, adding that Rwanda has embarked on an ambitious plan to build the systems.

The Minister assured the German delegation that Rwanda is committed to better planning of  the budgetary process, accounting and all forms of finance management that ensure proper linkages of plans to expenditure.

The €7m general budget support contribution would be used to implement the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) while €3m would be used to ensure efficient, effective and accountable use of public resources.

According to Wiesner, the grant agreement allows further intensification of friendly relations between Rwanda and Germany.

"Our government considers Rwanda to be a partner country in the very strong development orientation and we are impressed by the tangible results we usually receive regarding the country’s social and economic development,” he noted.

Wiesner added that the joint Rwandan-German efforts have shown remarkable results in the areas of poverty reduction, health, sustainable social economic development, good governance among others.

"Germany considers general budget support and the public financial management system as efficient and appropriate aid modalities,” he said.

During the ceremony, Wiesner underlined the long history of friendly bilateral relations of the two countries and confirmed Germany’s readiness to further continue its development cooperation.

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