Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister Kuleba visits Rwanda

This afternoon, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Biruta held a bilateral meeting with Mr. Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine who is in Rwanda for a one-day visit.  

“On Africa Day, first-ever visit to Rwanda, Minister Biruta and I discussed Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula and food security. We intend to boost cooperation in trade, digitalization, aerospace, construction, education, and pharmaceuticals. Ukraine will open an embassy in Rwanda’, said Mr. Dmytro Kuleba.  

According to Rwandan diplomacy, the two Ministers signed a Memorandum of Understand on Political Consultations between Rwanda and Ukraine.

Kubela is currently on an African tour that includes visits to Morocco, Ethiopia and Rwanda.  Speaking in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on Wednesday, Kuleba urged African countries to abandon their stances of neutrality towards his country’s war with Russia.   

Kuleba said Ukraine was “very upset that some African countries chose to abstain” and called on them to lend Ukraine diplomatic support “in the face of Russian aggression.”

Many African countries have refused to take sides in the European conflict, with several abstaining from votes at the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia’s invasion.

Russia has built a substantial presence in several parts of Africa, where Russian private military contractor Wagner is active, and recently held joint military drills with South Africa. Russia plans to hold an Africa-Russia summit in July.

In Addis Ababa, Kuleba also called on African countries to endorse the “ten-point peace formula” proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in December and emphasised Ukraine’s wish to build better relationships with Africa, based on trade in energy, technology and pharmaceuticals.

It is his second tour of African countries interested in Ukrainian goods and services.  He set himself three key objectives:

•           to involve as many African countries as possible in the implementation of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula;

•           to enlist support for the uninterrupted export of Ukrainian grain under the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the President’s Grain from Ukraine program;

•           create new opportunities for Ukrainian business.

As a reminder, on October 3-12, 2022, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister went on his first-ever tour of Africa. The key topic of the minister’s talks was the consolidation of political support for Ukraine from the countries of the global south against the backdrop of Russian aggression, including the latest attempt to annex Ukrainian territories. (End)