President Paul Kagame and Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness discussed opportunities to expand trade, investment and cooperation between their countries during a meeting on the sidelines of CHOGM in Antigua and Barbuda.
The leaders met on Monday, November 2, in St John’s. They exchanged views on issues affecting their countries and considered areas where they could work more closely together.
Holness said the meeting was part of Jamaica’s effort to build partnerships beyond the Caribbean.
He described such engagements as important for “creating new opportunities for trade, investment and development for the benefit of our people.”
The discussions also covered cooperation in health, defence and tourism. Those areas build on a relationship developed during Kagame’s state visit to Jamaica in April 2022, when the two governments identified several sectors for collaboration and signed a memorandum of understanding on tourism development and promotion.
Cooperation has since extended to disaster recovery. Earlier this year, Rwanda sent military engineers to Jamaica to help repair infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Melissa. Working with Jamaican authorities, they helped rehabilitate homes and schools before completing their mission.
Kagame also met Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization.
Their separate discussion covered Rwanda’s partnership with the organisation and the importance of increasing regional trade and investment to support sustainable development.
The meetings took place as Commonwealth leaders gathered in Antigua and Barbuda to discuss stronger partnerships and investment among member countries.
Elie GATETE
RADIOTV10