Text of report by James Karuhanga entitled "Rwanda, Germany sign pacts" published in English by Rwandan newspaper The New Times website on 21 July Nyarugenge: The governments of Rwanda and Germany signed three vital cooperation agreements last week in the office of the minister of foreign affairs and cooperation. According to the ministry, the agreements in technical and financial cooperation, amount to 13.5m euros.
"The financial cooperation signed amounts to 4.6m euros," reads a Foreign Affairs statement. "Part of it is destined for the health sector in Swap framework, while the other part, amounting to 1.5m euros, is for micro-finance projects."
Swap (acronym for Sector Wide Approach) is a process where donors give significant funding to a government's comprehensive sector policy and expenditure programme consistent with a sound macro- economic framework.
Swaps normally have a joint review mechanism and performance monitoring system relying on the government's own performance assessment framework. The framework stresses development cooperation under government leadership among other things.
Rosemary Museminali, the minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, signed on behalf of Rwanda while Christian Clages, the German envoy signed on behalf of the German government.
The technical agreement covers projects in primary health care and the fight against HIV/AIDS and support to good governance.
"The cooperation agreements signed today will go a long way in reinforcing friendly relations between Rwanda and Germany while contributing to socio-economic development of Rwanda," the ministry's statement concluded.
Minaffet [Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation] maintains that the two countries enjoy friendly relations - the German president visited Rwanda in February and President Kagame also visited Germany in April. Shortly after, in June, a high-level German delegation visited Rwanda to assess its capacity in utilizing budget support, which they found very strong.
The delegation, comprising legislators and senior officials in the Ministry of Economic Cooperation, was led by Karin Kortmann, parliamentary state secretary in the ministry. They visited central ministries, districts, various German-supported projects, and finally met President Kagame - all of were geared to getting acquainted with the German-Rwanda development cooperation.
"Our fruitful discussions were mainly to highlight the reason of our stay - development cooperation with your government," Kortmann said after meeting the president in June.
Consequently, they held good discussions with the president and were impressed by how the country allocates German development aid.
Germany contributed some 10 million euros to Rwanda as part of budget support last year.
The recent pacts are a sign of increased confidence by Germany in Rwanda government's commitment to development.
Originally published by The New Times website, Kigali, in English 21 Jul 08.
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