Brussels, 1 April 2014
President Kagame travelled to Brussels where he attended the 4th EU-Africa Summit themed “Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace.” The summit brought together leaders from Africa and the European Union to discuss issues including peace and security, economy and climate change.
The summit also held a special meeting on the Central African Republic hosted by President Van Rompuy, President Hollande of France and President Abdel Aziz of Mauritania. Rwanda currently has 800 troops serving as peacekeepers in Central African Republic.
Received by President Kagame in March of this year, the European Union Commissioner for development, Andris Piebalgs announced a new six-year development partnership between Rwanda and the European Union:
“For the period of 2014-2020 our goal is to strengthen economic growth in the country by focusing on the energy sector reform and Agriculture because they create job and economic growth. We also have this big Europe Africa Summit in Brussels in April.”
The previous EU-Africa summits took place in Cairo in 2000, in Lisbon in 2007 and in Tripoli in 2010.