The CEO of the French Development Agency (AFD), Rémy Rioux is in the country to officially unveil its new organization’s country offices and sign a number of agreements with some of Rwanda’s main development stakeholders.
This development follows a mutual commitment made by the Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macro to reinforce the cooperation between the two countries in a wide range of sectors.
Visiting Rwanda for the 4th time since June 2019, Rioux has signed an agreement with Rwanda Development Bank (BRD) that is part of a privileged relationship between the BRD and the ‘AFD, according to the CEO of the BRD, Pichette Kampeta Sayinzoga.
The action of AFD Group in Rwanda for 2022-2023 revolves around three pillars, in addition to the cross-cutting theme of sport:
(i) human capital (health; education & vocational training) ;
(ii) sustainable economic development ;
(iii) local development & access to basic services.
According to a statement from AFD, since 2019, AFD has committed €218 million in Rwanda. The physical presence of AFD Group in Kigali will enable the Group to further strengthen the ties with its Rwandan partners, as AFD will be allocating €200 million in the next two years, which will add to the funding operated by the French Treasury and the French Embassy.
The host country agreement which will be signed during the visit will apply to all three entities part of the AFD Group, thus creating a favourable environment for Expertise France – which is already active in the health and education sectors – to develop its activities as well as for Proparco to provide direct funding to companies operating in the country.
During his visit, Mr. RIOUX will also explore future partnership opportunities in terms of education/vocational training, digital tech and innovation, green finance as well as sport and development, launch the National Plan for the teaching and learning of French with Honourable Dr. Valentine UWAMARIYA, minister of Education and sign two specific agreements with the BRD and the Ministry of Health.
A partnership agreement with Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD).
The objective of the partnership agreement is to set down the areas of cooperation between the two public development banks for the next 5 years. They will explore collaboration in terms of green finance as well as new sectors, such as the mainstreaming of gender in their respective activities or sectors that have a high potential in terms of growth and creation of decent jobs (i.e. digital, cultural and creative industries, sports etc.).
The agreement plans for the concrete fostering of knowledge and peer-to-peer exchanges. The two institutions will explore exchange of staff with a focus on skills transfers and knowledge sharing.
Finally, AFD will sponsor BRD’s application to the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) a network of 26 national, regional and bilateral development banks that are working together to implement the Sustainable Development Goals & the Paris Agreement Agendas. BRD and AFD will collaborate in the Framework of Finance in Common Summit (FICS), the global forum gathering all public development banks, and strive to keep it a dynamic coalition.
Agreement with the Ministry of Health of Rwanda
To enhance the Rwanda-French cooperation, the Ministry of Health and AFD Group will in turn commit to further their collaboration in the health sector. Such cooperation should lead towards concrete projects such as the rehabilitation of the Musanze hospital, support to vaccine production, training of health human resources with peer-to-peer exchanges between health facilities and research institutions in France and Rwanda.
The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group implements France’s policy on development and international solidarity. Comprised of AFD, which finances the public sector and NGOs; Proparco, which finances the private sector; and soon, Expertise France for technical cooperation, the Group finances, supports and accelerates transitions towards a more resilient and sustainable world.
AFD is building shared solutions with our partners. His teams are active in more than 4,000 projects in the field, in the French overseas departments and some 115 countries, including areas in crisis.
AFD strives to protect the common good – promoting peace, biodiversity and a stable climate, as well as gender equality, health and education. It’s AFD way of contributing to the commitment that France and the French people have made to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals. Towards a world in common.
