Will Rwanda benefit from the recent heads of state visits?

Last week, the Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi  paid separate visits to Rwanda recently, in a bid to boost bilateral relations between Rwanda and their respective countries.

They signed MoUs in sectors like agriculture, human resources development and ICT, among others. Sharon Kantengwa finds out people’s opinion about the Heads of State and Government visits.

David Muhinda, Businessman

The visits show that we are improving our relations with other countries and its beneficial mostly for us in the business world. We are opening our country to economies and countries like Mozambique, China and India are doing very good business in Rwanda.

Gisele Emerusenge, sign language interpreter

We have a lot of work to do as regards infrastructure such as roads and Chinese being the experts in construction, we stand to benefit from the good relations.

Also, having the leaders of big economies like China and India visit, will be good for business, especially at a time when we are promoting Made-in-Rwanda products.

Nobert Haguma, secretary, Rwanda -China Alumni Association

I think that the agreements signed say it all. Regarding China, there have been 15 agreements from human resources, to e-commerce, to the building of the highway, to the new airport, to the building of the road to Kibeho, but also because it’s the first time that the President of China has visited Rwanda, it means its a sort of upgrade of the relationship between Rwanda and China.

So I think the Chinese people, from the tourists to the investors, who did not know about Rwanda, have read about it because they follow their president’s visits seriously and China is a country in which the state needs the private sector.

So, in, Rwanda we really want the private sector investments and they need a sort of directives from the state saying Rwanda is a good country to invest in. So this visit means that Rwanda is open for business to the Chinese, the state is encouraging them to establish businesses here and I think we need to maximise the opportunity.

Ange Umulisa, communications officer

First, I think its creating a better relationship between our countries, and on the touristic level, if the Indian Prime Minister and Chinese President visited Rwanda, obviously they talked about it in the news, getting people to learn about our small country and likewise we learn about their countries. It will open doors both on the business and touristic level.