Presidents Kagame with Erdoğan
Holding a joint press conference with President Kagame of Rwanda, President Erdoğan said: “We see today’s visit as a new milestone in terms of deepening our cooperation. With its political stability, domestic peace, and economic development model, Rwanda is an exemplary African country.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda held a joint press conference following their meeting at the Presidential Complex.
“I am pleased to welcome my treasured friend, Paul Kagame, on the occasion of this first-ever visit at the Head of State level from Rwanda to our country. I would like to welcome him and the esteemed members of his delegation in your presence,” President Erdoğan said.
“With the inauguration of our embassies, our relations with Rwanda gained significant momentum”
President Erdoğan stated: “With the mutual inauguration of our respective embassies in 2013 and 2014, our relations with Rwanda gained significant momentum. Indeed, we are speaking of a friendly country where our companies’ current investments total nearly 500 million dollars while our trade volume stood at 1 million dollars in the early 2000s. We see today’s visit as a new milestone in terms of deepening our cooperation.”
Praising Rwanda’s stability and development, President Erdoğan said: “With its political stability, domestic peace, and economic development model, Rwanda is an exemplary African country. Without doubt, my treasured friend Kagame’s visionary leadership plays an important role in this success. Today’s meeting with him addressed the steps we will take to strengthen our cooperation in the areas of trade, investments, energy, education, culture, defense industry, and research and development.”
“We are increasing our education investments in Rwanda year by year”
President Erdoğan noted: “We have agreed to intensify our efforts towards fully unleashing our trade potential with Rwanda. Turkish companies account for 13 percent of the total foreign investment in Rwanda. It is promising for the future of our relations that our country ranks among the top countries in Rwanda’s foreign trade. We have reached an agreement with Mr. President for our companies to boost their investments in Rwanda and thus to contribute to its development goals.”
Highlighting the importance Türkiye attaches to facilitating Rwandese youth’s access to higher education, President Erdoğan pointed out: “We are increasing our education investments in Rwanda year by year. To date, we have granted Türkiye scholarships to 257 Rwandese students and enabled them to receive university education in our country.”
“Rwanda is one of the countries to have extended support to our fight against FETO in the fastest manner”
President Erdoğan further stressed: “Rwanda is one of the countries to have extended support to our fight against Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) in the fastest manner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them once again.”
Stating that Türkiye maintains its relations with the African continent within a holistic, institutional and systematic framework in line with its Africa partnership policy, President Erdoğan added: “We aim to contribute to the continent’s development based on equal partnership and win-win approach in accordance with the principle of offering African solutions to Africa’s problems.”
“We hope that the conflict with the democratic republic of the congo will be resolved through peaceful means”
President Erdoğan continued his remarks as follows: “We appreciate Rwanda’s contributions to the establishment of stability and security in the East Africa and Great Lakes Region. We hope that the conflict with the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be resolved through peaceful means. We sincerely support the direct negotiations mediated by Angola. If both of the sides wish so, Türkiye stands ready to provide every kind of support for the settlement of this issue, which would contribute to stability and peace in the Great Lakes Region. I would like to thank Mr. President and his esteemed delegation for their visit. I wish for our talks and the documents we have signed to be auspicious for our countries.” (End