The People’s Republic of China has been lauded for continued cooperation with the Government of Rwanda particularly in human resources development programs which have seen a large number of Rwandans gaining knowledge, skills and expertise to be applied home in various development sectors.
The appreciation was made yesterday during a seminar on China Human Resources Development Programs that took place at Kigali Serena Hotel.
Graced by Chinese ambassador to Rwanda, Rao Hongwei and Deputy Rwanda Development Board (RDB) CEO, Zephanie Niyonkuru, the session attracted members of the Chinese community in Rwanda and alumnus of previous training programs.
Human Resources Development Cooperation is part of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last year when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Rwanda in July 2018.
According to Chinese ambassador to Rwanda, Rao Hongwei the cooperation rendered new guidance and expertise to many Rwandans.
“In the year 2019, China Human Resources Training Program made a significant breakthrough. Around 400 Rwandans attended various courses and seminars under these programs. This is an increase of almost 50 percent over 2018,” he said.
“Those training programs are in line with the major concerns of Rwanda like Governance, political party capacity building, agriculture and agro-processing, e-commerce, investment and trade promotion, management and economic development growth, technology application and poverty reduction among others,” added Hongwei.
He said Rwandans opened their eyes through these programs, sharpened skills and diversified experience as most trainees were equipped with required expertize and reached higher in their profession.
Hongwei expressed optimism that Human resources development programs will streamline processes, improve efficiency, enhance productivity and accelerate sustainable development.
“Rwandans are striving to achieve vision 2020, 2025 and 2030. They are aiming at higher income and living standards. To achieve this ambitious growth, capable workforce, professional and accountable workforce and competent leaders are indispensable. China-Rwanda Human resources development cooperation is commendable and has brighter future,” he said.
RDB DeputyCEO, Zephanie Niyonkuru highlighted that the program is mainly going to help Rwanda to deliver on national development goals.
“As the Government of Rwanda, we have embarked on making sure that we improve the livelihoods of our people. If we look into our long term planning, we intend to become high income country by 2050. That really means that we need to have a GDP of about USD 12,400 billion. That is a lot of money compared to where we are today,” he explained.
“All this cannot be done if we do business as usual; we need to make sure that we roll out critical interventions that will help to achieve all of these objectives. The National Strategy for Transformation (2017-2024) has been guiding all development agenda. We intend to create at least 1,500,000 jobs. It cannot be possible if we do not invest in people. This is one of the programs that will help us to achieve this and increase workforce productivity,” added Niyonkuru.
During the session, alumnus of previous trainings in China shared acquired experiences.
Donat Nsengumuremyi, the Director of Mineral Extraction and Processing Unit at Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMB) was part of the team from the institution and mining private sector that learn from mineral resources development and experience , administration and how resources are managed in China.
“We learnt from different areas of the mining sector and building our capacity in the sector through several training programs. We were able to acquire different skills used currently in the sector starting from value chain, exploration and value addition, mineral processing and utilize mineral resources capturing different elements lost during processing processes that we came to replicate in Rwanda,” he said.
China, Rwanda diplomatic relations date back in 1971.