India–Rwanda relations are the foreign relations between the Republic of India and the Republic of Rwanda. India is represented in Rwanda through its High Commission in Kigali which opened on 15 August 2018. Rwanda has been operating its High Commission in New Delhi since 1999 and appointed its first resident High Commissioner in 2001.
History
Rwanda opened its Embassy in New Delhi in 1999 and appointed its first resident Ambassador in 2001. Although Rwanda had not been a British colony, it opted to become a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in 2009, and its diplomatic mission became a High Commission. India opened its High Commission in Kigali on 15 August 2018, and appointed Oscar Kerketta as its first resident High Commissioner to Rwanda. The Indian High Commission in Kampala, Uganda had previously been accredited to Rwanda.
High level visits
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has visited India five times including 3 private visits and 2 state visits. He made his first visit in December 2002 to receive an honorary doctorate from the Vellore Institute of Technology. He made his second visit in January 2009 to participate as the chief guest at the India-Africa Business Forum organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry. Kagame visited New Delhi again in November 2014 to participate in the India Economic Forum, and also met with President Pranab Mukherjee during the visit. Kagame visited Gandhinagar, Gujarat in January 2017 to attend the Vibrant Gujarat summit, and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit. Kagame visited Delhi on 9-12 March 2018 to participate in the founding conference of the International Solar Alliance.
Rwandan Prime Minister Bernard Makuza participated in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January 2011. He visited India again in October 2011 to explore new investment opportunities accompanied by a 25 member business delegation. In April 2012, Defence Minister Gen. James Kaberebe led a three-member delegation to India to attend DefExpo India 2012. He also met with his Indian counterpart and discussed possible future cooperation between the two countries in the field of defence. Speaker of the Parliament of Rwanda Rose Mukantabana attended the 7th Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament held in New Delhi in October 2012. Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi visited India in October 2015 to attend the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit.
During Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari's 5-day visit to Rwanda in February 2017, the two countries signed agreements to set up an entrepreneurship development centre in Kigali, begin RwandAir flights to India, and mutually exempt visa requirements for diplomatic and official passport holders. Ansari also met with President Kagame, Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi, and President of the Rwandan Senate Bernard Makuza. Makuza visited India in July 2018, met with Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu and signed an MoU for cooperation between the Senate and the Rajya Sabha.
Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Rwanda on 23-24 July 2018. Several bilateral agreements were signed during the visit including MoUs on defence co-operation, dairy co-operation, leather co-operation, cultural exchange, cooperation in agriculture and animal resources, and a bilateral trade agreement. India also extended lines of credit worth million for the development of industrial parks and expansion of Kigali SEZ, and million for financing an agriculture project in Rwanda. Modi made several other commitments to assist Rwanda including gifting 100,000 books of the National Council of Educational Research and Training, setting up a task force in the field of digital education and an e-library, support for digitalization and online access of education books and related learning material, establishing an Entrepreneurship Development Centre in Kigali, providing 25 fully funded slots for Rwandans to attend training in dairy production and processing in India, a gift of 200 cows worth to the Rwandan Government's Girinka programme which aims to provide one cow to every poor Rwandan family, and donations of to the Kigali Genocide Memorial and the Imbuto Foundation for the education of girls.
Economic relations
Bilateral trade totaled US$140.96 million in 2020-21. India made $134.29 million worth of exports and $6.67 million worth of imports from Rwanda. The main commodities exported by India to Rwanda are electrical and mechanical machinery, pharmaceuticals and vehicles. The major commodities imported by India from Rwanda are metallic articles (aluminum, lead and copper), precious and semi-precious stones, tea and coffee.