French Development Agency opens office in Rwanda, pledges €200m

The French Development Agency (AFD), a public financial institution that implements the policy defined by the French Government has opened offices in Rwanda, a move looked at as another step in the deepening of ties between the two countries. On Thursday, March 31, Rémy Rioux, the CEO of AFD visited Rwanda for the 4th time since June 2019. On the occasion, AFD Group officially unveiled its new country offices and signed a number of agreements with some of Rwanda’s main development institutions. A statement from the French institution said Rioux’s visit “highlights AFD’s contribution to the deepening of the relationship between France and Rwanda following the mutual commitment made by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and French President Emmanuel Macron to reinforce the cooperation between the two countries in a wide range of sectors.” The official inauguration ceremony was attended by key dignitaries including Claudine Uwera, the State Minister for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Antoine Anfré, the French Ambassador to Rwanda, Antoine Anfré, among others. “This is the concretization of the announcements made during the presidential visit in May 2021,” AFD’s statement added. According to official information, AFD Group will be allocating €200 million in support to Rwanda in the next two years, which will add to the funding operated by the French Treasury and the French Embassy. AFD’s action in Rwanda for 2022-2023 will focus on human capital (health; education and vocational training), sustainable economic development, and local development and access to basic services. During his visit, Rioux also explored future partnership opportunities in the fields of education, digital technology and innovation, green finance as well as sport and development. On behalf of AFD, Rioux also signed a partnership agreement with the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD), pointing out the areas of cooperation between the two public development banks for the next 5 years. “The agreement plans for the concrete fostering of knowledge and peer-to-peer exchanges. The two institutions will explore exchange of staff with a focus on skills transfers and knowledge sharing,” AFD’s statement stated. AFD also offered to sponsor BRD’s application to the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) a network of 26 national, regional and bilateral development banks that are working together to implement the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement Agendas. BRD and AFD will collaborate in the Framework of Finance in Common Summit (FICS), the global forum gathering all public development banks, and strive to keep it a dynamic coalition. Another MoU is planned to be signed between AFD and the Ministry of Health, aiming at establishing key areas of cooperation between the two institutions. “The Ministry of Health and AFD Group will in turn commit to further their collaboration in the health sector. Such cooperation should lead towards concrete projects such as the rehabilitation of the Musanze hospital, support to vaccine production, training of health human resources with peer-to-peer exchanges between health facilities and research institutions in France and Rwanda,” AFD’s statement read. The Rwanda-French ties have been on the rise since last year when President Macron visited Rwanda in May last year. In a key highlight of his visit, Macron made a speech in which he sought the forgiveness of the survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, for what he admitted was his countrys historical and political responsibility in Rwanda.

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French Development Agency opens office in Rwanda, pledges €200m