Rwanda established official diplomatic relations with China on November 12, 1971.
This was just a decade after the small East African nation gained its independence after years of colonization by Belgium.
Diplomatic ties between Rwanda and China have grown and evolved over the past 47 years, leveraging on the mantra of mutual cooperation.
Since 1980, the Chinese government has assisted Rwanda in the health sector building a district hospital in Kibungo, a city in the southeast of Rwanda.
Chinese medical teams have treated over 500,000 patients there as well as at other health establishments nationwide.
China has also pumped in some $420M in investment in infrastructure, mining, hospitality and tourism.
The partnership has seen bilateral initiatives blossom with China offering support to Rwanda’s agriculture, education, healthcare, culture, and environment sectors.
Between 2000 and 2011, there were 56 official China-financed projects in the country, which included the cancellation of a $160M debt, construction of a cement factory at Bugarama, a joint project by Chinese Pengfei Group and Rwanda’s Cimerwa as well as an interest-free loan for building roads in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital.
Trade volumes between the two countries stood at $157M in 2017.
In order to assist Rwanda’s exports, China established a duty-free policy on 95% of Rwandan products.
China’s non-financial direct investment in Rwanda in 2016 reached over $100M including in the areas of digital television and garment manufacturing.
At a meeting held in Kigali in July this year, President Paul Kagame and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to further promote bilateral cooperation in a bid to bring more benefits to the two countries.
In their talks, the two leaders also spoke highly of the growth of bilateral ties over the past 47 years since their countries established diplomatic relations.
President Xi called on the two countries to strengthen the link between their respective development strategies, give full play to their complementary advantages, and carry out pragmatic cooperation in more areas and at deeper levels.
President Kagame, on his part, called China a reliable friend who shares weal and woe with Africa. He said it is of great importance for Rwanda and Africa to develop friendly ties with China.
