Russia talks mutual interests with Rwanda
Posted on : Wednesday, 21st October 2015
Louise Mushikiwabo, the Rwanda foreign affairs and cooperation minister was in Russia last week after being invited by her counterpart and host Sergey Lavrov.
According to a release at the close of her two-day visit, it was stated that they discussed a broad range of diplomatic issues in a bid to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.
Addressing a joint news conference afterwards the two foreign ministers said Rwanda and Russia have a long history of cooperation, with diplomatic relations formally established since 1963.
“We also talked about potential areas that could attract investments. These include agriculture, mining and tourism among others,” Mushikiwabo said.
She said at the centre of their talks were priority areas of cooperation between the two countries,
She said the world is at a particular time in history where all countries have to work together to address global issues. “Our visit to Russia helped us share our viewpoints with our counterparts on important matters and come up with mutually benefiting approaches to solving pressing problems on both regional and international levels,” she said.
In his statement, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Rwanda and Russia share the intention to promote bilateral ties in diverse areas.
He said: “We have the potential to do this, particularly in the trade-economic and humanitarian sphere. We agree that we have good prospects in the agro-industrial complex, tourism, banking, personnel training and military-technical cooperation.”
He thanked the Rwanda government for its support of many Russian initiatives, including the voting on the resolution on the inadmissibility of the glorification of Nazism, which the UN General Assembly traditionally adopts every year.
In the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda had temporarily closed its Embassy in Moscow. This was due to other priorities and financial constraints.
The Embassy was reopened in 2013 with the appointment of Rwanda’s Resident Ambassador based in Moscow.
The two countries have particularly been working closely on global issues during Rwanda’s tenure at the UN Security Council. The two foreign Ministers were pleased with the shared views of both countries and vowed enhanced, continued diplomatic relations and constructive consultations.
Minister Mushikiwabo conveyed to her counterpart an invitation to visit Rwanda. The latter expressed his gratitude for the invitation adding that dates will be settled later on.
Kinyerezi I was built by Norway’s Jacobsen Elektro.
President Kikwete said he plans to meet with all stakeholders involved, including the Treasury and the World Bank to ensure speed in the construction of remaining power plants.
It was also revealed by experts at the site that the construction of the remaining gas power plants namely Kinyerezi 2 will start next month while work on Kinyerezi 3 will start in January 2016.
The date for Kinyerezi 4 is yet to be fixed. However according to the him, the National Five-Year Development Plan, which ends next year, seeks to reach the 2,780MW target by 2016, noting that the country has at present 1,490MW with a deficit of about 1,290MW to reach the target.
Kikwete said with the decline in electricity production in the hydropower plants, his government had embarked on the use of natural gas for production and distribution by constructing the $1.2 billion (Tsh.2.4 trillion) gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam and construction of the gas plants at Kinyerezi in Dar es Salaam.
“Soon we will break ground for the construction of iron ore mining and smelting projects at the Mchuchuma Coal and Liganga iron ore mines and set in motion the coal and iron ore to electricity production project.
Kiwira Coal mine is also ready but just a small hitch that needs working out,” he said.
Adding that other alternative sources that are on the ground include Wind Energy in Singida (600km) from Dar es Salaam and Makambako (550km) from Dar es Salaam and a 500MW solar energy project in Shinyanga (750km) from Dar es Salaam.
According to Kikwete, Kenya and Zambia want to buy gas from Tanzania to produce electricity in their countries while Rwanda wants 500MW of electricity, Mozambique has requested for 300MW hence directed the power utility firm the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) to fast track production and sell the surplus to neighbouring countries a factor that will also help check idle talk that the firm is ailing.
The acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Engineer Ngosi Mwihava, said in the ten years of President Jakaya Kikwete’s rule, there has been an increase of 484.5MW (47%) of electricity.
In his comments the Managing Director of Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), Engineer Felchesmi Mramba said the Kinyerezi 1 Gas Power Plant is part of four other gas to electricity fired power plants in the area with a combined capacity of 1,290MW.
According to Engineer Mramba the Kinyerezi I Gas Power Plant was built at a cost of $183 million (Tsh.366 billion) and that the Kinyerezi I Gas Power Plant has four aero-derivate turbines built in the United States by an international leading company in making such machinery using modern technologies, the General Electric (GE) Company.
“The LM 6000 turbines have the capacity to produce power using natural gas or jet fuel and that TANESCO decided to use this type of turbines that use two types of energies to produce power to ensure there is an alternative source even at times when there is no gas from Mtwara,” he added.
He said Kinyerezi 1 Gas Power Plant has started producing power, 70MW that are fed into the national grid and all processes of commissioning the plant are under the GE experts from US.
The remaining 80MW will soon be fed into the national grid.
