Interview: Partnerships can be a source of strength for India, Rwanda relations – Amb. Shankar

A head of India’s Prime Minister’s visit to Rwanda, India’s Ambassador to Uganda, Ravi Shankar, who also covers Rwanda and Burundi, has said that the partnership between the two countries can be a source of great strength for India and Rwanda. “This (the partnership) could reinforce and accelerate each other’s economic development, which can help in building a more just, inclusive, equitable and sustainable world,” he said. India is seeking to strengthen partnership with many African countries in many areas including in economy, politics, trade and tourism, among others. With the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, coming to Rwanda on a two-day state visit this Monday, it could mark a new era of partnership between the two nations as this will be the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Rwanda. Shankar said India’s approach to partnership with Rwanda is driven by the aim of empowerment, capacity building, and human resource development, access to Indian market, and support for Indian investments. India already shares some good relations with Africa, which are cemented by robust development partnership and a large presence of the Indian Diaspora. According to Shankar, the Prime Minister’s official engagements in Rwanda will include bilateral meetings with the President, delegation level talks, and meetings with the Rwanda and Indian business communities. In Rwanda, the Prime Minister will also visit a Genocide Memorial and participate in an event on Girinka (one cow per family), a Government of Rwanda initiated poverty eradication project. What we know so far is that the Prime Minister is also expected to give about 200 cows to President Paul Kagame as part of India’s contribution to the flagship (poverty eradication) project, Girinka. The visit of Prime Minister to Rwanda comes at a time when Rwanda is the chair of AU, and the envoy noted that it will further strengthen India’s relations with the African continent. “Over the years, our relations have acquired greater depth and breadth across areas including political, economic, commercial, industry, agriculture, defence, security, education, human resource development and people to people exchanges,” he said. The ambassador also mentioned that East African region offers opportunities for investment by Indian business persons, and he believes Rwanda could be an ideal springboard for Indian companies to access the common market of EAC. During the Africa-India Summit in 2015, India offered soft loans in the form of Lines of Credit to the tune of US$10 billion to Africa. According to Shankar, these loans can be availed in the areas of infrastructure, power, roads, industrial parks, agriculture. “Solar energy is one area where we are extending loans to several African countries,” he said. “It is encouraging to note that Rwanda has access to several LoCs offered by India. We will be happy to consider fresh proposals from Rwanda for funding under Indian LoCs, in but not limited to the solar energy sector,” he said. At the moment, India offers training and capacity building opportunities through its ITEC programme in addition to several scholarships that are offered to Rwandan students. Each year, India offers 15 slots to Rwanda under the civilian ITEC programmes. It is indicated that, under the IAFS training programme, 22 Rwandans went to India in the last two years. India offers low cost education across various disciplines and there are several African students enrolled in Undergraduate, Masters and Postgraduate courses in India. “Rwandan students can also benefit from the opportunities that India offers in this area,” the ambassador said. Traffic to increase Shankar highlighted that, with the introduction of e-visas facility to Rwandan nationals by India and on-arrival visa facility extended by Rwanda to nationals of all countries, there will be an increased flow of travellers between the two countries. “With introduction by Rwanda of on arrival visa facility for all countries, Rwanda is likely to receive more tourists from across the globe, including India,” he noted, adding that the country would be happy to share experiences in promoting tourism.

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Interview: Partnerships can be a source of strength for India, Rwanda relations – Amb. Shankar