President Kagame on Thursday, President Kagame held talks with President Mubarak following official welcome ceremonies at the Egyptian Presidential Palace. Discussions at the meeting centered around strengthening the existing bilateral relations between Rwanda and Egypt and establishing cooperation in the key areas of agriculture, business and trade. Also discussed was ongoing dialogue on the Nile Basin and moving forward with plans for how to best use the Nile River for the benefit of both nations.
Earlier in the day, President Kagame laid wreaths at the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier in honour of Egypt’s fallen soldiers of the October War of 1973 and the late Anwar Sadat who was laid to rest at the site in 1981.
Rwanda and Egypt have enjoyed diplomatic ties since 1970, and the recent 2nd session of the Joint Permanent Commission held in Cairo in September 2009 served to further strengthen bilateral cooperation. Both countries are members of the Nile Basin Initiative and COMESA, and jointly support the proposal for the tripartite merger – of COMESA, EAC and SADC. Similar to Rwanda, Egypt supports the African Union-United Nations efforts to bring peace to Darfur having deployed around 2000 military personnel to the region and hosted Darfur factions for peace talks in Egypt.