The Spanish Ambassador to Rwanda, Juan Manuel Gonzalez de Linares, commended the various ongoing economic reforms which have made Rwanda an excellent location to do business.

Ambassador Gonzalez de Linares made the observation during the Flamenco festival held at Ishyo Arts Centre on Friday.

"We already have business people from Spain working in Rwanda and, we are very excited about the good relationship between the two countries,” the envoy told The New Times, citing the short time it takes to open a business as one of the remarkeable adjustments.

It takes only 24 hours to register a business in the country.

The ambassador said that the Embassy of Spain, which has its residence in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania was looking to open an embassy in Kigali, but the plans have been delayed by his country’s severe economic crisis.

"Spain is currently experiencing a severe economic crisis, thus making it difficult to open a new embassy in Rwanda,” Amb. Gonzalez de Linares said.

Flamenco is a famous Spanish art form combining music and dance which originated in the Andalusia region of Spain. It was officially recognised in the eighteenth century, as a result of a revolution of a mixture of cultures; Christians, Muslims, Jewish and Egyptians.

"These four cultures took place in Spain at the same time and this is the only place in the world where you can find the real Flamenco,” the ambassador, said.

He added: "We had an opportunity to show the most important dance in our culture and it is the first time that our embassy has organised such a cultural event in Rwanda and we plan to undertake more related events here.”

"I am glad to know that even in this country, there is a dance that is similar to ours, where dancers create a social harmony which they transmit to the audience,” he said.

The festival was graced by six artistes from Spain attracting dignitaries, the Spanish community in Rwanda, among others.

"Tonight is the first evening of our new project, which is aimed at promoting Rwanda’s cultural diversity in the world, because we have a larger diplomatic representation, who are curious about our culture and we are also curious about theirs,” Carole Karemera, the director of Ishyo Arts Centre, said.

"We encourage embassies and other people from different parts of the world to bring their cultural diversity to Rwanda. We tell them that Ishyo Art Centre is all theirs and they can use it anytime,” she added.

Karemera noted: "We tell them to bring a film and filmmaker, an author and a novel, a dance piece, or to participate in international arts and cultural events that take place in Rwanda such as FESPAD.”

She observed that this would give foreigners an opportunity to discover Rwanda’s arts and culture.

"During such events, we invite Rwandan artists to interact with colleagues from other parts of the world to exchange their experiences,” Karemera concluded.

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