Table of Contents
PM MODI EMBARKS ON THREE-NATION TOUR TO AFRICA
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in South Africa for the BRICS summit on 25 and 26 July 2018, but prior to that, he has chosen to visit Rwanda and Uganda, both located in the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa.
- China is already Africa’s largest trading partner. It also opened its first military base on the continent last year in Djibouti, located in the Horn of Africa. Djibouti launched a China-backed free-trade zone this month, which it calls the largest in Africa.
- Ahead of his visit to Rwanda, Xi said China had become Rwanda’s biggest trading partner and project contractor, with the trade volumes between the two countries registered at $157 million (€134 million) in 2017.
- Some fear that poor nations are not prepared for Chinese investment. US officials and others have warned African nations against putting themselves into debt to China.
India to open High Commission in Rwanda
In 2009, Rwanda became the second Commonwealth member admitted not to have any such constitutional links. It was a Belgian trust territory that had been a German colony until World War I. Consideration for its admission was considered an “exceptional circumstance” by the Commonwealth Secretariat.
PM NARENDRA MODI GIFTS 200 COWS TO
RWANDA VILLAGE
GIRINKA PROGRAMME
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday gifted 200 cows in a symbolic gesture to villagers in Rwanda’s Rweru model village under the Rwandan Government’s Girinka Programme.
The locally sourced cows are a contribution to Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s flagship programme Girinka in which the poorest get cows from the government and gift the first female calf to a neighbour to promote brotherhood. The exercise also enables the poorest in Rwanda to have a livelihood.
The national social protection scheme was personally initiated by the Rwandan President
INDIA’S AFRICA OUTREACH
This is not Modi’s first visit to the African continent. He earlier visited Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Mauritius and Seychelles in 2015 and 2016
In January 2017, India and Rwanda had elevated their diplomatic relations to a “strategic partnership”.
Chairperson of the African Union – Paul Kagame (the President of Rwanda)
Rwanda hosted the Assembly of the African Union earlier tis year, where the African Continental Free Trade Area was signed. “44 members of the African Union signed the Agreement. When ratified, the Agreement would be the largest Free Trade Area in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization”
- Rwanda is a landlocked country with few natural resources. So why is China investing so heavily in it?
- Rwandan officials hosting Chinese trade delegations emphasize Rwanda’s stability, government transparency, and business-friendly regulations—it takes less than 24 hours, on average, to set up a company.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
The agreements were signed in the fields of defence, trade, agriculture, leather and allied products and dairy. India also extended two lines of credit (LoCs) worth $200 million to Rwanda: – For the development of industrial parks and Kigali Special Economic Zone – For the development of three agricultural projects in Rwanda
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
This is for the first time in 76 years since Rajya Sabha came into being, it has entered into MoU with foreign counterpart for promoting inter-parliamentary dialogue.
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