NEW DELHI: India’s energy quest has taken it to east-central Africa as it decided to elevate its partnership with landlocked country Rwanda to a strategic level. Rwanda's visiting President Paul Kagame invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to work out collaboration on exploring the methane reserves in his country.
Rwanda is presently recovering from the ethnic civil war that culminated in government-sponsored genocide in the mid-1990s in which an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by dominant Hutu forces in 100 days.
During the 1994 genocide, Indian peace keepers had laid down their lives for peace in Rwanda. And the joint statement of the two leaders said that “India is positively considering opening a resident Mission in Kigali (the capital and largest city of Rwanda).”
It is with this background, India is seeking to support the reconciliation and post-conflict peace processes in the African country.
“The partnership is strategic for us. President Kagame has extended an invitation to the Prime Minister to visit Rwanda and discuss the possibility of joint gas exploration,” an official privy to the talks told the New Indian Express.
President Kagame has been in the government in Rwanda since his rebel army killed thousands of people during the genocide. Since then the country has been epitome stability in the region with strong infrastructure, stable government and proximity to markets in east and southern Africa.
The two countries acknowledging their “common experiences with colonialism” decided to work towards doubling their bilateral trade. In the five years between 2011-2015, the bilateral trade has reached $526 million.”Presently, Rwanda's economy is growing at high pace. It is rebuilding its economy and India stands to gain a lot from this partnership,” the official said.
Also the population in Rwanda is very low at 11.78 million and Indian nationals stand to gain as Indian investment will create employment opportunities for people emigrating from here to the African country. According to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), between 2011 and 2016, Rwanda registered 66 investment projects from India valued at $317.5 million that has created over 3800 jobs in various fields including telecommunication, hospitality and education.
However, India is far behind from China that has already moved to turn this landlocked African country with little resources is fast becoming the hub of Chinese investment in Africa. Beijing has been investing heavily in building schools, roads, hotels and hospitals in the country. So much so Rwanda's foreign ministry has been designed and constructed by Chinese engineers.