RwandaRelations between Egypt and RwandaBrief History:
The Egyptian Embassy in Kigali was opened in 1976, and the Rwandan Embassy in Cairo was closed in December 1999 for financial reasons, yet it was reopened after 15 years following
the participation of H.E. President Paul Kagame in the Economic Development Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh on March 2015.
Egypt and Rwanda enjoy excellent and diversified relations in many political, economic, cultural, and developmental fields, and they share common interests in various regional and international issues, in addition to their membership in different regional organizations including the COMESA, the NEPAD initiative, the African Union, and the Nile Basin Initiative.
The Egyptian Rwandan Joint Commission was established in September 1989, and the second round of this Joint Commission was held in Cairo from 7th to 10th of September 2009, presided by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries, and it witnessed the signing of ten documents of cooperation in different fields including Economical and Technical Cooperation, Agriculture, Customs, Youth, Industrial Development, Petroleum and Mineral resources, Education, Health, Culture, Scientific and Technological Cooperation.
Mutual Visits:
• H.E. President Paul Kagame participated, heading a high level delegation, in the Economic Development Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh on March 2015.
during which he met with H.E. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and senior Egyptian officials and businessmen.
• H.E. Anastase Murekezi, Prime Minister of Rwan
da, participated in the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh on June 2015.
• The last five years witnessed a lot of visits of Egyptian senior officials to Rwanda both on the bilateral and multilateral levels, including the visits of former Minister of Foreign Affairs, former Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Assistant Defense Minister.
Also several Rwandan Ministers paid visit to Egypt for bilateral and multilateral meetings including the visit of the Minister of Trade and Investment to participate in the Business for Africa Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh on February 2016.
• Visit of a committee of technicians from the Egyptian Ministry of Transport to Rwanda in June 2015 to evaluate the feasibility study on the navigation line project linking between Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean.
• A delegation from the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy visited Kigali in April 2017 to discuss enhancing energy cooperation and coordination with regard to The Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP).
Economic Relations:
• The Egyptian Investments in Rwanda are estimated around 15 million USD in the Construction and Mining sectors.
• The Egyptian Rwandan trade relations enjoy the privileges of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the Egyptian products are witnessing an increasing demand in the Rwandan market allowing the Egyptian exports to reach 21 million dollars in 2014 from 14 million dollars in 2009.
• Egypt''s main exports to Rwanda include mixtures of odoriferous substances and cane sugar.Technical cooperation and assistance:
• Rwanda participates in around 55 to 70 training programs organized by Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) in cooperation with relevant ministries and institutes, in various fields including police and security, diplomacy, agriculture, irrigation and water resources management, health, media and electricity and power.
• The Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) dispatched two Egyptian medical convoys to Rwanda, in 2012 and 2014, in addition to sending several residing Egyptian doctors to provide their expertise to the Rwandan Hospitals.
• Al-Azhar Al-Sharif offers to Rwanda 22 scholarships annually at Al-Azhar institutes and for undergraduates to obtain a bachelor''s degree.
There are also 2 emissaries from Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Rwanda.
