Rwanda, Lesotho strengthen ties

The Government of Rwanda and the Kingdom of Lesotho have agreed to strengthen bilateral relations. The agreement was signed by the Minister for Local Government James Musoni and Lesotho’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government Methetjo Metsing in Kigali yesterday. “This memorandum of understanding demonstrates the commitment of our governments under the framework of the African Union to establish close, broad and deeper relations,” Musoni said. He said the relations will enable the two countries to cooperate in areas of local governance, decentralisation, institutional capacity building, fiscal and financial decentralisation. The minister added that the partnership with the Kingdom of Lesotho opens opportunities for both countries and a platform for economic cooperation. Other areas of cooperation are planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, and professional expertise exchange. Metsing said the new deal will help Lesotho learn from the experience and challenges Rwanda has experienced in implementing various development programmes. Yesterday’s event follows last year’s visit by a delegation of 15 government officials led by Metsing to the country. During the visit, it was agreed that the two governments will this year formalise relations. The visit was aimed at enabling the team to witness firsthand how decentralisation works and the monitoring strategy of government policies from the lowest to the highest levels of governance.

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Rwanda, Lesotho strengthen ties