We did not suspend aid, says Belgian minister

Belgian Foreign Affairs minister Didier Reynders has said his country did not suspend aid to Rwanda as earlier reported but rather postponed some initiative to allow Kigali to make more progress in different fields. Belgian Foreign Affairs minister Didier Reynders chats with the head of Emigration and Immigration at Nemba one-stop border post, Jules Karangwa, yesterday. (Timothy Kisambira) Reynders made the remarks in Bugesera District during his tour of Nemba One Border Post connecting Rwanda and Burundi, yesterday. The minister was accompanied by his Development Cooperation counterpart Alexander De Croo. Eastern Province Governor Odette Uwamariya (C), Minister of State in the Ministry of Health in charge of Public Health and Primary Health Care, Dr. Patrick Ndimubanzi (R), chat with the visiting Belgian minister for Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo during their tour of Gakurazo Health Centre in Bugesera District yesterday. (Courtesy) Last month, reports indicated that Brussels had decided to withhold Euro40 million in bilateral aid to Rwanda on grounds that the latter had not met certain targets in the area of governance or that the indicators previously agreed between the two parties were no longer relevant. Belgium’s minister for Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo shares a light moment with Bugesera District mayor Louis Rwagaju (C) during a tour of a newly installed solar energy facility in Nyamata, Bugesera, yesterday.(Courtesy) Foreign Affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo, in December, explained that the issue had been blown out of proportion as the money in question was never part of the agreed bilateral support, since it was only a bonus. Nemba one-stop border post serves a large number of travellers between Rwanda and Burundi. Here, an Immigration and Emmigration officer was handling arrivals yesterday. (Timothy Kisambira) Mushikiwabo said Belgium has every right to determine whether, when and how to disburse its aid money and that the decision solely fell within Belgium’s sovereign rights and had nothing to do with how Rwanda relates with the former. Minister Reynders signs in a visitors book at Nemba one-stop border post yesterday. (Timothy Kisambira) Speaking about the aid reports, Reynders said: “It was an additional programme that was just postponed because we asked Rwanda to make some progress in different fields but we are still providing huge aid to Rwanda like other countries in the region.” Belgiums Minister for Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo speaks to The New Times and Izuba Rirashe reporters at Nemba yesterday. (Timothy Kisambira) “Our relations are very good and we are trying to enhance them and we will do that in the next days when we return from Bujumbura to discuss at a political level.” Visiting Belgian ministers Didier Reynders (Foreign Affairs) and Alexander De Croo (Development Cooperation) shortly after visiting Nemba one-stop border post in Bugesera yesterday. (Timothy Kisambira) The two ministers later proceeded to Burundi and are expected back to Rwanda on Thursday to meet with several government officials to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries. Speaking about Rwanda-Belgium relation, Minister De Croo said: “The relations between the two countries are excellent, Rwanda is the third biggest country in our development cooperation (after DR Congo and Burundi) at the moment.” The Belgian delegation left for Burundi, through the Nemba border, following their tour of development projects in Bugesera District yesterday.(Timothy Kisambira) “Rwanda has made some incredible improvement in fields of economic and social affairs in the previous years and we really hope this development will continue in the right direction … but also on the side of civil liberties and human rights and we think that there are signs that this is progress in good direction.” editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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We did not suspend aid, says Belgian minister