Jamaica And Rwanda Begin Process To Strengthen Ties

The governments of Jamaica and Rwanda have already begun the process of strengthening their relationship, including greater social and economic ties that are beneficial to the people of both countries.

Responding to a question posed during the ‘Think Jamaica 2022 – Government to Government and Civil Society Dialogue’, President of the Republic of Rwanda His Excellency Paul Kagame, said his presence is indicative of the partnership between the nations. The president is on a three-day State Visit to Jamaica.

“And then medium term, I suppose we have to work on certain things, but I think the more we get together, the government officials from both sides meet and put a working programme in place…I think we can move quickly and start seeing results. It starts now…it started when I arrived,” he said.

The question focused on the strengthening of mutually beneficial ties for both countries over the short, medium, and long term.

The Think Jamaica session was held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston on Friday (April 15) and formed part of the activities for the three-day State Visit of President Kagame, the first Rwandan Head of State to visit Jamaica.

Prime Minister the Most Hon. Andrew Holness said collaboration in areas such as science and engineering is critical in accelerating Jamaica’s thrust to create a digital society.

“And so, a part of what we will be seeing as the short term, what we discussed, is how we can accelerate our own digital process in line with what Rwanda is doing so that, for example, we can collaborate on science and engineering which are two gaps in our society. But we have similar problems, similar outlooks, we relate to each other as equals and we can find our own solutions,” he said.

Mr. Holness said the move to create a digital society “is very important as the next frontier of development, the next frontier of being able to connect with the world, with partners, so that we can collaborate and solve local problems.”

The session was moderated by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith. Members of the Houses of Representatives, civil society and other groups participated.

Rwanda is situated in Central Africa and bordered to the north by Uganda, east by Tanzania, south by Burundi and to the west by the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its capital is Kigali.

Jamaica and Rwanda entered diplomatic relations on November 6, 1998.

The three-day State visit by the president coincides with Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of Independence which is being celebrated from January 1 to December 31.

President Kagame departs the island today (April 15).