Rwanda: UK Minister Andrew Mitchell Expected in Rwanda

29 August 2023
The New Times (Kigali)
By Edwin Ashimwe

Andrew Mitchell, the United Kingdom's Minister of State for Development and Africa is expected in Rwanda on Thursday, August 31 for a three-day visit, the British High Commission in Kigali has announced.

While in Kigali, it is expected that Mitchell will announce two new education initiatives, including a new digital library project by the British Council, and launch the UK's new seven-year education partnership with UNICEF under the Girls in Rwanda Learn (GIRL) program.

"This is an opportunity to reinforce the strength of the UK-Rwanda partnership and see the demonstrable outputs of UK-funded technical assistance and programs in Rwanda's development journey," British High Commission said in an emailed notice.

It is also expected that the top British legislator will see equipment (fingerprint scanners and security cameras) provided to the Rwandan Revenue Authority (RRA), publicly promote the BII joint venture in Rwanda's infrastructure sector, and visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial, a resting place for the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Mitchell visit to Rwanda comes at a time when both countries boast of "deep and meaningful" ties covering many areas of mutual interest, among which is trade, education, migration, and social protection among others.

Just recently, Rwanda started trading under the UK's low-tariff scheme, which cuts tariffs on products entering the UK from 65 developing countries, as well as simply trading rules so that more products qualify.

In general, trade between Rwanda and the United Kingdom improved significantly seeing the trade volume grow by 6 percent to reach more than Rwf41 billion in 2021.

The next big event on the agenda is the UK-African Investment Summit in London on 23-24 April 2024, in which Rwanda is expected to participate.

The Summit will build on the results of the UK-African Investment Summit 2020, which announced over £6.5 billion of deals, plus a further £8.9 billion of investment commitments.

At the Summit in 2020, the World Bank issued its first Rwandan Franc local currency bond on the London Stock Exchange, giving international investors exposure to Rwanda and supporting the development of the local capital market.

Read the original article on New Times.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2023 The New Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.