The new Ambassador of Israel to Rwanda, Einat Weiss, seeks to establish strong bilateral relations between both countries, spurred by the tourism industry and investments.

She said this during an exclusive interview with The New Times, on Wednesday, September 13.

Weiss presented her letters of credence on August 29, along with other 11 ambassadors appointed to represent their countries in Rwanda. She came in replacing Ron Adam who concluded his four-year tenure at the helm of the embassy which opened in 2019.

Rwanda and Israel have enjoyed, over the years, a strong relationship in education, agriculture, and technology drawing from shared values and history.

Direct flights

To deepen the existing relations, she said: "We are thinking of renewing direct flights between Rwanda and Israel and that will allow [us] to have many Israel tourists coming to see this wonder."

She pointed out that direct flights will also bring in more business people and investors, hence, increasing trade deals between both countries.

"In the long run, I want to see Israel investing in every field here and more Rwandans going to Israel for tourism, and education, among other purposes. This could take the relationship to another level."

In 2019, RwandAir launched a direct flight to Tel Aviv that operated three times a week, before being halted as a result of Covid-19.

Israel has a flagship cooperation project in Rwanda whereby a number of students are sent to the country to pursue courses related to modern agriculture, an important development for an agrarian economy with majority of Rwanda's workforce depending on it for a living.

There has been an increase in high-level state visits between the two countries. In 2016, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Rwanda and in 2017, Rwandan President Paul Kagame visited Israel. Netanyahu and Kagame also met in Nairobi in November 2017.

Israel and Rwanda continue to boost ties in a number of fields including education, technology, cyber-security, agriculture, and energy.