This Wednesday the Head of State Paul Kagame hosted Zhang Dejiang who is the The Chairman of the Standing Committee of The National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Speaker of the The Parliament of China who is in Rwanda for an official visit.
Zhang Dejiang is the third among the highly ranking political officials in China. He comes after the President of China and the Premier of State Council. He is the first high ranking Chinese official to visit Rwanda since the bilateral cooperation between both nations started in 1971.
He was welcomed with high respect and honor. He was accompanied by many Chinese officials and at the Rwandan side, President Kagame was with Minister of foreign affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo, Minister of finance and economic plan Amb Claver Gatete, Minister of infrastructures James Musoni, the Chairperson of the RPF and the Speaker of Parliament Donathille Mukabalisa.
Mr Zhang came from Zambia and after Rwanda , he will go to Kenya.
The talks between Zhang Dejiang and President Kagame were held in secrecy.
After the talks, Hon Mukabalisa told media that this visit is of a great importance to Rwanda as it will help both nations exchange bilateral interests for mutual benefit.
Last year, Rwandan Minister of foreign affairs Louise Mushikiwabo visited China and held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In 2011, both Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi and his deputy minister of foreign affairs in charge of Africa Zhai Jun visited Rwanda.
The Rwandan Minister of foreign affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo said that it was a pleasure for Rwanda to receive the Chairman of China’s National People’s Congress for a 2-day visit.
She said that the visit had a dual goal: to advance the already excellent relations between the 2 countries, including collaboration on global matters, and on the other hand to follow up on the China-Africa Summit that took place in Johannesburg last December, where China’s president Xi Jinping rolled out for the continent a stepped up cooperation plan worth 60 million dollars over the next 3 years
UM– USEKE.RW
