Qatar one of the most important partners of Rwanda: Kagame

Qatar is one of the most important and strong strategic partners of Rwanda, President Paul Kagame stated at Qatar Economic Forum 2023 Tuesday.
Kagame was interacting with Jennifer Zabasajja, correspondent, Bloomberg, on the opening day of the three-day event. powered by Bloomberg.
“We have to invest and grow. No country can manage that alone and there is the need to have partnerships for countries like Rwanda. We need to build partnerships with market leaders. Qatar is one of the strongest strategic partners for Rwanda as well as for many other African countries,” said Kagame.
The Rwandan President stressed the importance of the strategic partnership between his country and Qatar, especially since the GCC is achieving growth and is full of important opportunities, highlighting the need to invest to sustain economic growth.
Kagame pointed to the partnership between his country and Qatar Airways in the aviation sector and said that negotiations have been completed in this regard. “We have moved to the stage of achieving what was agreed upon with Qatar. Rwanda continues to build partnerships with Qatar Airways, with work underway to build Kigali Airport, which will be 70% complete by the end of 2023,” he highlighted.
“We have a vision of what we want to do and Qatar is a partner of choice in aviation. We seek partnership with marker leaders in infrastructure, manufacturing, innovation and startups," continued, the Rwandan president.
“We don’t go out to the market or borrow for the sake of it. We want to invest in sectors that will have good returns and justify our investment and also contribute to the wellbeing and development of our people,” explained the president.
Kagame observed that economic progress can help address human rights issues, adding that Rwanda is looking for strategic partnerships with market leaders, as it invests in biotechnology, and started manufacturing vaccines with BioNTech, as well as building partnerships based on innovation and supporting emerging companies in this field.
He also referred to Rwanda's pursuit of growth, highlighting the country's investments in infrastructure and industrialisation. Kagame added that the country needs resources that will not be available until it returns to the market, which is driving the country's will to ensure its position as a reliable country that is able to pay its debts.
“We need to be rethinking but also need to finding ways to doing better than we have done in the past. By making progress on the economic front, the basic thing is the needs of people and that is what we are looking at,” he added.