Africa-Press – Rwanda. German Development Minister Svenja Schulze is in Rwanda for a four-day trip. The trip will focus on the establishment of vaccine production, joint efforts to combat the climate crisis and the role of women in successful development.
A press statement from her office noted that Germany is actively supporting the development of African vaccine production. “After the Federal President recently visited Senegal, I will now visit the second country where mRNA vaccines made in Africa are soon to be produced,” she said in the statement.
One of the lessons of the Corona pandemic is the realisation that access to vaccines must be more equitably distributed globally. “Our development policy task here is to create good framework conditions for investment together with the partner governments. The second focus of my trip is the fight against climate change. I want to deepen German-Rwandan cooperation with a new climate and development partnership,” she said.
This partnership will also take into account that Rwanda, like many other developing countries, is already suffering from the consequences of climate change. Rwanda has achieved great progress in terms of development policy and has considerably strengthened social and cultural rights.
“But I also don’t want to close my eyes to the deficits as far as democratic development and civil rights are concerned, to raise critical points and to find out about the concerns of civil society in direct talks,” she added.
During her trip, Minister Schulze will meet with President Paul Kagame, Finance Minister Uzziel Ndagijimana, Health Minister Daniel Ngamije and Minister of Gender and Family Promotion Jeannette Bayisenge.
She will also exchange views with representatives of civil society and local organisations. One focus of the trip will be German support for the establishment of Rwanda’s own vaccine production. Currently, 99 percent of the vaccines used in Africa are imported.
Rwanda is one of the African countries, along with Senegal, Ghana and South Africa, where vaccine production is to be established. On 16 February in Marburg, BioNTech presented a container factory that is to be set up in Rwanda and Senegal.
The BMZ is supporting the necessary framework conditions for the successful establishment of vaccine production in Rwanda with 35.7 million euros for the training of the necessary skilled workers and the strengthening of the responsible regulatory authority.
The second focus of the trip is the joint engagement against the climate crisis. Rwanda is considered a pioneer in both climate protection and adaptation to climate change.
To further strengthen cooperation, Federal Minister Schulze will therefore sign the Rwandan-German Climate and Development Partnership together with the Rwandan Minister of Finance on Tuesday.
For the concrete implementation of the partnership, financing agreements amounting to 56 million euros are also to be signed to support Rwanda’s climate goals and sustainable urban development. Rwanda is also considered a pioneer on the African continent in the context of digitalisation.
40% of public services are already digitalised, which also benefits rural areas in particular and strengthens political participation as well as transparency. In the flourishing digital sector of Kigali, the first and so far largest digital centre of German development cooperation was opened, which promotes, among other things, the local tech industry, the development of artificial intelligence and online-based training and further education.
Federal Minister Schulze will also hold talks with Rwandan decision-makers on gender equality and Rwandan women’s policy – in the context of her political focus on feminist development policy. Rwanda attaches great importance to gender equality. It is enshrined in the Rwandan constitution, and the country has a high proportion of women in political and economic leadership positions.
Germany supports Rwanda’s development with its development cooperation in the areas of climate and energy, good governance as well as education and sustainable economic development. Germany is Rwanda’s third largest bilateral donor in this regard.
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