Sharing India ’ s concerns on climate change , Rwanda became the 25th country to join PM Narendra Modi ’ s brainchild – the International Solar Alliance ( ISA ).
Both Prime Minister Modi and President Kagame had acknowledged the importance of International Solar Alliance in advancing new solar technologies worldwide and also recalled the solar electrification of 35 schools in rural Rwanda under a grant from Government of India .
However , despite the noble intentions and gestures , a lot needs to be done to realise the potential of this strategic partnership , particularly in the field of bilateral trade and commerce .
In the last five years , the bilateral trade between India and Rwanda has been in the range of $ 85 to 95 million , except in 2014- 15 when it hit a peak of $ 150 million . It was $ 95.94 million in 2017-18 .
Although both the countries have agreed to double the bilateral trade in their strategic partnership forged in January 2017 , the value of the bilateral trade is still far below the peak registered during 2014-15 .
Moreover , this bilateral trade is overwhelmingly skewed in India ’ s favour .
During the last five years , India ’ s exports to Rwanda stood at $ 87.56 million in 2013- 14 , $ 149.27 million in 2014-15 , $ 106.08 million in 2015-16 , $ 88.05 million in 2016- 17 and $ 90.60 million in 2017-18 , whereas India ’ s imports from Rwanda during the same period was at a paltry sum of $ 0.25 million in 2013-14 , $ 1.21 million in 2014-15 , $ 1.35 million in 2015-16 , $ 1.18 million in 2016-17 and $ 5.34 million in 2017-18 .
As per the latest official data from the Ministry of Commerce of Government of India , the total trade between India and Rwanda is pegged at $ 94.95 million in 2017- 18 which was just 0.01 percent of India ’ s total global trade of $ 768,954.51 billion in that year .
This figure of bilateral trade of $ 95 million between India and Rwanda is extremely low even in comparison with India ’ s total trade with Africa .
India ’ s total trade with Africa in FY 2017- 18 stood at $ 62.692 billion dollars and India ’ s trade with Rwanda was just 0.15 percent of its total trade with Africa that year .
Commenting on this extremely low level of trade between the two strategic partners , Ambassador Soni , who has led several business delegations to foreign countries in his diplomatic career , says although the bilateral trade may be slow to start with , it is bound to pick up pretty soon .
Ambassador Soni further adds that what sets apart India ’ s engagement with Africa is its focus on innovative capacity building programmes and the deployment of ICT to help build a knowledge economy in the African continent .
He says that no project illustrates this thrust on innovation and development-driven partnership better than the India-assisted Pan- African e-network that provides telemedicine and tele-education by linking them with top educational institutions and super-specialty hospitals in India and one such hospital is coming up in Kigali , the capital city of Rwanda .
India is yet to set up a mission in Rwanda , nearly one and a half years after elevating the bilateral relations to the level of a strategic partnership through the joint declaration which clearly mentioned that ‘ India would explore / set up a mission in Kigali ’.
Presently , India conducts its diplomatic work through its mission based in Uganda ’ s capital Kampala .
Ambassador Soni advises that in order to bring new dynamism in the relations , India should leverage the strengths of the unique Indian model and showcase its long-term approach that hinges on empowering Africans .
Most African countries have historic goodwill for India . India clearly recognises Rwanda ’ s rising profile in Eastern Africa and wants to use its good relations with Rwanda to showcase to other African countries in the region about its intent to forge such mutually beneficial relations across Africa . •
* The author is a Delhi based journalist who has worked with Indian and International Broadcasters of repute like NHK Japan , Voice of America and Rajya Sabha TV among others . He maintains keen interest in international relations , defence and economic issues .
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