The Executive Director at AFD (French Development Agency) in charge of operations in the countries where the Agency works, Philippe Orliange (P.O), visited Rwanda from July 18 to 22 touring AFD projects in the country. He granted an exclusive interview to André Gakwaya of the Rwandan News Agency (ARI-RNA). Read the interview below :
RNA – How many countries are you operating in?
P.O – The AFD Agency works in 110 countries. And the AFD group, that is to say the Agency itself, our Technical Cooperation subsidiary called Expertise France and our Private Sector subsidiary called Proparco, so the group works in 135 countries.
RNA – So you were in Rwanda to see AFD’s projects?
P.O – I came here to see how we implemented the roadmap which was signed two years ago between France and Rwanda on cooperation which set a target of five hundred (500) million euros in new projects and I came to see how this roadmap is getting started because at the end of the year, we must have finished. It is a roadmap that covered the period from the visit of the President Emmanuel Macron to the end of 2023.
RNA – Tell us about the projects you visited.
P.O – Today we went to Musanze. We visited the hospital whose renovation and reconstruction will be co-financed by AFD and the Rwandan Government. We went to see how the renovation of this hospital, which serves a large part of the northern region of Rwanda, looks like. This afternoon, we went to Tumba to visit the Polytechnic College and the Mechatronics Training Unit which was financed by AFD. And then in the district of Rulindo, a high school which is part of a group of four establishments whose renovation was financed by the AFD. We expect to see these projects on the ground. We say to ourselves that French cooperation is a living reality. And that the commitments that were made during the visit of President Emmanuel Macron are being kept. And all this, for the benefit of the sons and daughters of Rwanda. Especially of youth. That’s one aspect.
The other aspect is that Rwanda actually is a bit of an inspiration. Especially for AFD, which has an agency that is very committed to financing the fight against climate change. We saw the Governor of the Central Bank on Wednesday yesterday. The Governor of the Central Bank is one of those Governors of Central Banks who have taken the subject of the fight against climate change very seriously. And who have read the Paris Agreement, who have clearly seen in the Paris Agreement what they said. This is because financial flows must be redirected in favor of the fight against climate change. And the cooperation that we are in the process of setting up with the Central Bank of Rwanda on this subject is quite exemplary cooperation.
Yesterday afternoon, we saw the Minister of State in charge of the East African Community at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nshuti Manasseh. We gave him a little update on the roadmap and its execution to show him that the commitments that have been made, there is no doubt that they will be kept. Then tomorrow, we will meet the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Uzziel Ndagijimana. We are going to visit a program on CCI (Cultural and Creative Industries). We will see the Zipline Center in Muhanga for drones. For us AFD who are in a hundred countries around the world, there are a number of inspiring things happening in Rwanda. Whether it’s on climate finance, whether it’s on the subject of Cultural and Creative Industries, whether it’s on the way in which public policies are implemented with great consistency and results. And that is important for us beyond the purely bilateral aspect. It is important for AFD to be in Rwanda. And participate in these innovations.
RNA – Do you have other projects in perspective that you can launch?
P.O – This was already the subject of the visits we made on the ground. And also the subject of discussion with the Governor of the Central Bank. For example, we want to work with the big Rwandan banks to help them take the turn of green finance, finance in favor of the climate. And tomorrow, we are going to have this discussion with the Minister of Finance to also listen to him. And know what he wants us to do as projects. But for example in the Education sector where we are, – where there is this project we were talking about earlier -, I think we will continue to do things in Education. And that is really a very, very important priority. In the health sector, there are also certainly things to do. In a few months, we will discuss precisely with the Rwandan authorities what they want AFD to do. Because the roadmap I was talking about is also the result of a discussion that we had two or three years ago with the Rwandan authorities.
RNA – You had time to visit the Gisozi memorial site.
P.O – Yesterday morning was our first visit. We visited the Gisozi genocide memorial site.
RNA – I would like to know your impressions after your visit to this memorial. What did you write in the book of remembrance?
P.O – When General de Gaulle went to Auschwitz, when he made his official visit to Poland in 1967, he went to Auschwitz. And he was asked to fill out the book. Those who had witnessed the scene say that General de Gaulle had hesitated. He had searched for his words. Because faced with the presentation of such a drama, all words are too short. And he finally found a formula to characterize what had happened in Auschwitz, but he had evoked hope and expectation. And I believe that the feeling one has when one visits the memorial is both that of being overwhelmed by the scale of the drama, of the crime, and then it is also despite everything that will help keep the flame of hope burning.
RNA – How does the French population react to the prosecution of the perpetrators of the Genocide of the Tutsi who are exiled in France?
P.O – I think that the French population, -in any case the part that followed this subject-, was very struck by President Macron’s approach. By the words he used to characterize the position faced with what France had done. And I also think very impressed because what happened in Rwanda in 1994 had a lot of repercussions in the population and also by the attitude of Rwandans and the President of Rwanda. So the fact that justice is done today is considered normal. And that is what must be done. There is no question.
RNA – A message…
P.O – The first message is that we have a lot to do together. And that AFD, -in what concerns it-, I believe, demonstrates what we can do together. Things are happening in Rwanda, Rwanda has done things that can inspire many countries. Including on subjects that concern the planet such as the fight against climate change. So what is happening in Rwanda should be of interest. And Rwanda must take it to heart – and it already does this very well – to let people know and explain how this was possible. Sharing how it was possible in Rwanda is something we want to make known. How we wanted to publicize, -you mentioned Mandela earlier-, how we wanted to publicize in the years following the end of Apartheid, why and how South Africa had made this transition a success. (End)