BY GOVERNMENT OF BARBADOS
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley getting ready to cut the ribbon to officially open the Barbados Consulate in Kigali, Rwanda while officials look on. (PMO)
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley recently opened the Honorary Consulate of Barbados in Kigali, Rwanda, signalling another major step in diplomatic relations between the two countries.
“In a very real sense, we are breaking new ground. It would be difficult for people to believe that our relationship only really started with vigour from April of this year. It has been a sprint,” Prime Minister Mottley said during the opening of the diplomatic mission.
“But we are conscious we don’t want a sprint; we want a marathon. This establishment of this Honorary Consulate is an indication of our desire for that long relationship,” she added.
Ms. Mottley further stated: “Our limits are not constrained by the size of our country, nor by the limit of what we have economically produced thus far. But we believe we can be a difference to your continent, to our region and to the world.”
Meanwhile, Honorary Consul Emery Rubagenga noted that, as the opening came following days of meetings between the Rwanda Development Board and Invest Barbados, there was a real interest to connect both countries in the areas of business and economic diplomacy.
Prime Minister Mottley, had earlier that day paid a courtesy call on the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagme at his office residence, Village Urugwiro and then the Kigali Genocide Memorial.