Rwanda’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr Vincent Biruta, has met with his Burundian counterpart Amb Albert Shingiro on the sidelines of the 76th United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States. The two officials “exchanged on matters of bilateral relations between our two countries, and the road to normalisation,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter. Biruta and Shingiro met Wednesday, September 22. Relations between Rwanda and Burundi have been frosty for the better part of the last six years but both sides have recently moved to improve ties with a series of high-level bilateral meetings between political as well as military and security officials. In July, Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente led a Rwandan delegation to Burundi for the country’s 59th Independence Day celebrations, while heads of military intelligence from both sides have held talks on cross-border security cooperation. As part of continued effort to help improve relations, Rwanda also handed over to Burundi 19 combatants who had been arrested after crossing into Rwanda. Meanwhile, Minister Biruta also met with his counterparts from several other countries, including Augusto Santos Silva of Portugal, with whom he signed a Memorandum of Understanding on political consultation. Others include Kandia Camara of Ivory Coast, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of Namibia, Nikos Dendiace of Greece, Aissata Tall Sall of Senegal, Rogelio Mayta of Bolivia, Evarist Bartolo of Malta, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani of Qatar.
