The Kingdom of Belgium has agreed to help fund Rwanda’s efforts in the development of the health and agriculture sectors as well as urbanisation initiatives. The funding details are contained in a five-year agreement signed yesterday between Rwanda and Belgium, worth €120 million (about Rwf121.7 billion). According to officials, €45 million of the grant will be spent on improving access to sexual reproductive rights and sexual reproductive health, while €30 million will be spent on commercialisation of agriculture as well as improving the agricultural value chain. Urbanisation initiatives will take €28 million. The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana, commended Belgium for supporting Rwanda’s sustainable development agenda. “The Government of Rwanda treats health, agriculture and urbanisation as critical sectors that have a significant impact on Rwanda’s development outcomes as articulated in our National Strategy for Transformation. Therefore, Belgian support in these sectors is a step forward toward realising the targets,” Minister Ndagijimana said. He said the deal follows another agreement which was signed between the two countries in May last year. The previous agreement, was worth €160 million, was designed to support health, energy and decentralisation. The Ambassador of Belgium to Rwanda, Benoit Ryelandt, said the latest deal underscores the special relationship that exists between the two countries. He said Belgium was satisfied with the quality and results of previous support to Rwanda was being used. “This is a major step of continuation of long-standing bilateral cooperation and it is a sign of excellent relations between our countries,” said the envoy. He added that deal is also a culmination of a year of intensive preparations and discussions between Belgium and Rwanda to define the priority sectors, the objectives, targetted results, and implementation modalities in each sector According to Jean Claude Musabyimana, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, the support will be used in value chain process and to increase the productivity in livestock sector. With regard to health and agriculture, the programme will be piloting a new aid instrument known as Results-Based Aid (RBA). Under RBA, the donor contribution is released to the Ministry of Finance after verifying that the agreed sectoral targets have been achieved. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
