The visit by the Luxembourg delegation to Rwanda is said to mark a turning point in bilateral relations between the two countries.
The east African country aspires to become a financial hub for international investment in the region and the future collaboration between both countries targets several economic sectors with a focus on ICT and finance, according to Bettel during a closed meeting with the president of Rwanda.
Development cooperation and humanitarian affairs minister, Franz Fayot (LSAP), met with Rwandan foreign affairs and international cooperation minister, Vincent Biruta. Fayot spoke about human rights being a key factor in Luxembourg’s development cooperation strategy and the role digitalisation can play to improve access to basic social services.
“They want us to work together in the field of building the financial centre, which is really focused on inclusive finance, FinTech, green finance and sustainable finance, through capacity building and exchange of expertise. Also on digitisation, sustainability and environmental technologies developed, and they are looking to us to build that capacity and to help build economic opportunities, which are combined with imperatives like fighting climate change and being more environmentally minded,” Fayot told Delano with regards to what future of relations with Rwanda may look like. He also clarified that Luxembourg’s collaboration with Rwanda is based on the needs that they have highlighted at a local level and the priority sectors that they have defined.
“We have made good progress in agreeing on the sectors in which we are going to work together. We are making good progress also in identifying specific big projects… They now have to make formal requests to their ministry of foreign affairs to us to mandate LuxDev with certain defined projects and we have today asked them to come up with very specific projects they would like to work [on] together,” Fayot said. He hinted that LuXDev will be sending a representative to Rwanda in early September this year.
Doing business with Rwanda
Private sector representatives from the Post Group, B Medical Systems, Koosmik, Suricate Solutions Security and Payments (Excellium Group), Broadcasting Centre Europe, Société Européenne des Satellites (SES), LHOFT - Catapult Inclusion Africa, WEO & RSS-Hydro and the Luxembourg Chambre of Commerce were part of the official mission to Rwanda.
“The slogan here is really, trade not aid. It is about creating common economic opportunities…. It is a very different type of cooperation than we are doing in other partner countries of Luxembourg's development, cooperation, a new generation of cooperation,” said Fayot.
Luc Provost, CEO of B Medical systems, a medical equipment manufacturer and distributor in Luxembourg, explained that discussions with the health ministry of Rwanda during the trip were positive and that a potential partnership is underway.
Jean-Louis Perrier, co-founder of Suricate Solutions Security and Payments, a cyber-security consulting and technology company specialist, said that he also met with representatives from banks and several financial institutions in both Rwanda and Niger as the company considers expansion and partnership plans. Likewise, Frédéric Fievez, CSO at Broadcasting Centre Europe, already present in African countries such as Rwanda, Ethiopia and Cote d’Ivoire, said they are looking to expand partnerships.
Steve Shema, CEO of Fintech company Exuus and beneficiary of the Lhoft’s Catapult Inclusion Africa programme in 2020 said as part of the company’s seed funding round this year, they hope to plug back into the Luxembourg eco-system.
“Around 2017, in partnership with other agencies, the ICT ministry and now the space agency, we started looking at new opportunities that space and micro satellites are bringing to the space industry now. We’ve seen that there is potential in collaborations and what we are looking for today is establishing new ones and strengthening our knowledge of Luxembourg,” Alex Ntale, CEO of the Rwandan ICT Chamber told Delano about future expectations for partnerships between the eco-systems in both countries.
At the ITU conference, Kigali genocide memorial and basket market
The grand duchy was also well-represented at the opening ceremony of the International Telecommunication Union’s World Telecommunications Development Conference that took place at the Kigali Conference Center.
Introductory remarks were made by an all-female panel including ITU telecommunications bureau director, Doreen Bogdan-Martin and Rwandan ICT and innovation minister, Paula Ingabire. Xavier Bettel, as a guest of honour, in his special remarks commended the work of the ITU in its digital efforts and underscored how digital access and connectivity in the context of covid was critical to keeping the economy afloat.
The prime minister also used the occasion to highlight the instruments Luxembourg has available to reach overall ITU policy goals. First, he spoke about how SES—which is also an ITU sector member--provides its satellite connectivity solutions to governments and institutions, including several UN agencies across Africa and multipole sectors. He also presented the Luxembourg-funded cloud-based telemedicine platform, Satmed, currently deployed in 10 locations across Africa and Asia and in the second phase of implementation until 2024.
The ITU aims to create partnerships to connect the world’s 2.9 billion unconnected people in line with the sustainable development goals. “We believe in the ITU mission… and we want to be the partner you need in order to build and enable meaningful connectivity,” Bettel said.
Hosted for the first time in Africa since the launch of the ITU’s development sector in 1992, the conference in Kigali runs through 16 June.
The conference visit was followed by a brief tour of the Kigali genocide memorial and a local basket-weaving community in Rwanda.
Bettel said he anticipates that the trip to Rwanda will be followed by a return visit from the Rwandan president and ICT minister to Luxembourg. The delegation returned to Luxembourg on 8 June.
