It is my singular honor and privilege to welcome you all this afternoon to celebrate with us the 24th Anniversary of Rwanda’s Liberation. We deeply appreciate your presence today.

We have dedicated this year’s anniversary to highlighting investment and business opportunities in Rwanda.

The ‘Visit Rwanda” movement has attracted a lot of attention globally. After Rwanda signed a deal with Arsenal Football Club in May this year, the number of people searching Rwanda on line has increased by almost 6,000 per cent.

We are confident that this marketing strategy will bring a lot of tourists in Rwanda and our sub-region.

As many of you are aware, through the Northern Corridor Integration Projects framework relating to Single tourist visa, you can visit Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda using the same visa.

On 7th April this year, we congregated at the United Nations Office at Nairobi to commemorate one of the worst tragedies in the modern history – the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in which over one million innocent lives were brutally slaughtered like animals in a matter of 100 days. 

On this day- 4th of July 1994, President Paul Kagame, commanding the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) single handily stopped the genocide when the entire world stood by and watched. As we celebrate this important Day, we want to honor his heroism, bravely and extraordinary courage in stopping the genocide and liberating our country.

In our midst today, we are honoured to be with some of the RDF and RNP Senior Officers who participated in our country’s liberation struggle which saved it from total destruction.

I will ask them to join me at the podium for recognition. Let’s give them a round of applause.

The journey to rebuild our country has been challenging but at the same time exciting.

Starting from low base

When we look back, we started from a very low base and nobody expected that a country nearly decimated by the genocide would become so peaceful with all citizens living in peace and harmony and be in the league of world’s top- reforming nations.

In the past 24 years we have forged strong bonds among our citizens through Unity and reconciliation, maintained a stable and secure state, built strong and sound justice system to foster Rule of Law, established strong governance and democratic dispensation, grew our economy at an average rate of 8% at least in the last 10 years or so and provided effective social services to our citizens in terms of healthcare and education.

In the area of trade and investment, Rwanda presents a wide range of investment opportunities including but not limited to Manufacturing, Tourism, ICT, Agriculture, Energy, Mining, Real Estate and Construction, Financial Services, Healthcare Services, Infrastructure and Education.

You are assured of the return on your investment but I will leave this to one of the key investors who will briefly talk about his experience. This is essentially based on the fact that our economy remains stable and continues to show great potential. The first quarter of this year we registered a growth close to 11 per cent.

Investor confidence in Rwanda is at its peak and this is primarily due to: sustained economic growth; robust governance; investor friendly environment; access to markets; and an excellent labour market.

The tremendous progress we celebrate today is attributed first and foremost to our visionary leadership spearheaded by President Paul Kagame as well as to the unprecedented dedication and resilience of the people of Rwanda.

Strong ties

But of course this would not have been possible without the support of many of our friendly nations and development partners.

On this occasion allow me to briefly highlight the Rwanda- Kenya bilateral ties that have existed for more decades. Our two countries have and continue to enjoy strong and friendly bilateral ties. Currently, our friendship and cooperation are at their best level than ever before. Our partnership has grown so much stronger over decades.

Rwanda is proud of her long history of friendship and deepening bilateral ties with Kenya. Our relations have maintained a good momentum of development and close high-level contacts, among others.

Last month alone, President Kagame and President Kenyatta met and held talks during the 14th NCIP Summit held here in Nairobi on 26 June 2018 and at the 44th G7 Summit held in Quebec on 8th and 9th June 2018. Other senior government officials, including our Foreign Ministers, have held meetings on various occasions.

Through Northern Corridor Integration Projects Framework, Rwanda and Kenya are working closely to build infrastructure especially the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to cut down the cost of transportation of goods from Mombasa to Kigali. 

Let me take this opportunity to thank the Government of Kenya for delivering the SGR ahead of schedule. This is a reflection of H.E President Kenyatta’s vision and commitment to regional integration and achieving prosperity of all partner states.

Major contributor

In the area of trade, we are witnessing a steady increase of the overall trade volume between our two countries. Rwanda’s exports to Kenya have included coffee, tea, hides and skins and cereals at US$ 112,703,400 last year and Kenya’s exports to Rwanda have accounted for $ 115,334,083.

Kenyan investments in Rwanda are worth US $ 418,231,603 which makes Kenya among major contributors to Foreign Direct Investment in Rwanda. We deeply appreciate the role of Kenya’s private sector for its huge contribution to Rwanda’s economic transformation. And today we are honoured to be with KCB, one of the key investors.

By working together we shall be able to grow together. This year’s them of our Liberation Day is “Together we Prosper”.

I would want to take this opportunity to commend and thank many African Governments and particularly the Government of Kenya for expediting the signing of the Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) championed by the current Chair of African Union, President Kagame.

Which was signed in Kigali on 21st March 2018. This will definitely open up a huge market of more than 1.2 billion people living on this continent.

Let me also use this opportunity to applaud the Government of Kenya for its determination in pursuing the Big Four Agenda (manufacturing, Universal Healthcare, Affordable Housing and Food Security).

The agenda demonstrates President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visionary leadership and his desire to improve the lives of Kenyans and the economic prosperity of this great republic which will undoubtedly trickle down to the entire sub-region if not the continent.

I also wish to applaud the Government of Kenya for the initiative it has taken to organize the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference scheduled to take place in November 2018. Rwanda firmly advocates for this conference and assures its full participation at the highest level.

Allow me to take a moment and recognize and thank over 30 Diplomatic Missions that are accredited to Rwanda but based here in Kenya.

The excellent bilateral relations enjoyed between our countries continue to grow from strength to strength. We will ensure that these relations are deepened and expanded for the benefit of our peoples.

On a different note, many of you are aware that my Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Minister Louise Mushikiwabo is vying for the position of Secretary General of the Francophonie.

The Executive Council of the AU meeting in Mauritania over last weekend endorsed her candidature. We count on your support during the elections to be held on October 11th and 12th, 2018 in Everan, Romania.

Let me conclude by once again thanking all of you for your friendship and support.

This opinion is a slightly edited version of the speech by Ambassador James Kimonyo, High Commissioner of the Republic of Rwanda to Kenya at the 24th Liberation Day Anniversary, on 4th July 2018, KICC Nairobi, Kenya.