KIGALI, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Wang Xuekun has said that China will continue to be Rwanda's development partner for common growth and shared prosperity.
Wang made the remarks during a seminar held Wednesday on the implication of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for Rwanda. The event brought together Chinese embassy officials in Rwanda, representatives from civil society organizations, members of academia and media as well experts on China-Africa cooperation.
"Our friendship is deeply rooted among our peoples. China and Rwanda share similar historic experiences and have no historic burden. What China wishes is to work jointly with Rwanda for prosperity," said Wang.
He highlighted sustainability, solidarity and potentiality as key factors that will guide the deepening of China-Rwanda relations as the two countries aim to achieve common growth and shared prosperity.
At the event, Wang shared the success story of China regarding the achievements made in the past decades that have seen China build a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
"We will have more to deliver in the coming decades as we both develop. On our shared path to modernization, we will see more projects in traditional sectors like trade, infrastructure, health, education, and so on. There is also great potential in astronomy, IT, biotechnology, and those emerging high-tech sectors," said Wang.
Speaking at the seminar, Segond Fidens, one of the members of the Rwanda China Alumni Organization said that Rwanda can benefit from China's development through an increase in trade and investment, imports and exports, technology/knowledge transfer, cultural exchanges and dialogue.
"Before I was influenced by the western media trashing discourse; but my 10 months of immersion reversed the narrative. Cycling from Beijing to Pingxiang, I encountered the heart beating of a nation, ordinary people but determined, friendly, focused and cheerful," said Fidens.
Gerald Mbanda, researcher and publisher on China and Africa said that Africa's development will be on the right path following the footsteps of how China did it and is still doing it.
China is one of Rwanda's largest trading partners with a bilateral trade volume of more than 364 million U.S. dollars in 2021, which increased by 13.4 percent compared to the previous year, according to statistics from the Rwanda Development Board. ■
