It was the first visit ever by a Chinese President to Rwanda; it will be the first visit ever by an Indian Prime Minister to the East African country. China and India are clearly creating history ahead of the BRICS Summit 2018.
The 10th BRICS Summit will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from July 25-27, 2018. In the context of this high-level meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Africa, wherein he visited Senegal on July 21 and made another stopover in Rwanda today.
While in Dakar, the Chinese premier met with his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall and vowed to create a better future for both the countries.
The President of China expressed appreciation to Sall for viewing their ties from a strategic perspective, positively responding to the Belt and Road Initiative and strongly supporting China-Africa cooperation.
Xi welcomed Senegal to be the first West African country to sign a Belt and Road cooperation document with China.
For his part, Sall thanked President Xi for visiting Senegal in his first overseas trip since being re-elected as Chinese president, saying that it is Senegalese people’s honour.
On the second part of his visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Rwanda, the first Chinese president to visit the East African country, where he was accorded a warm welcome by President Paul Kagame.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has embarked on his three-nation tour to Africa. He will pay a State Visit to the Republic of Rwanda (23-24 July), the Republic of Uganda (24-25 July) and the Republic of South Africa (25-27 July). This will be the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Rwanda and the first visit to Uganda in over 20 years. The visit to South Africa is in the background of the BRICS Summit.
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The Indian Prime Minister’s official engagement in Rwanda and Uganda include bilateral meetings with the Presidents, delegation level talks and meetings with the business and the Indian communities. In Rwanda, Modi will visit the Genocide Memorial and participate in an event on “Girinka” (one cow per family), a national social protection scheme of Rwanda personally initiated by President Paul Kagame. In Uganda, Modi will deliver a Keynote address at the Parliament of Uganda – the first Indian Prime Minister to address the Ugandan Parliament.
In South Africa, Modi will have a bilateral meeting with the South African President and will attend the BRICS Summit and other BRICS related meetings. Bilateral meetings with participating countries on the sidelines of BRICS meetings are also planned.
While China is the largest trading partner of Africa, India shares close, warm and friendly relations with the continent with as many as 23 outgoing visits to Africa at the level of President, Vice President and Prime Minister in the last four years.
Africa has been the top priority of both China and India’s Foreign Policy.