Rwanda–Spain relations

Both countries began their diplomatic relations in 1967. In 1994, Spain turned to the Rwandan people, highlighting the participation of Spanish troops in the Mission sent that year by the United Nations. It was also the first country that moved a team of forensics and prosecutors to the ground shortly after the genocide to collect evidence and testimonies that allowed to identify and prosecute those guilty of it. The voluminous result of this work, delivered to the UN in 1995, was very useful to initiate the causes of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. That same year, Spain organized from Nairobi an air bridge with two military planes in order to transfer international humanitarian aid to the hundreds of thousands of refugees installed in the Congolese camp in Goma, in which a Spanish directed the first battalion of Medical officers deployed there by the World Health Organization. It was also through the aid granted by Spain that the Kigali psychiatric hospital was rebuilt after the civil war, with funds provided by the Ministry of Health of the Junta de Andalucía.[4]

In 2012 Spanish exports to Rwanda amounted to 6.58 million euros. The main exported chapters consisted of: sounding devices (44.5% of the total); photovoltaic cells (20.4%); centrifugal pumps (0.9%); iron or steel bars (0.6%) and medical-surgical or laboratory sterilizers (0.3%). In 2013, until November, exports amounted to 1.7 million euros.[5]

The Spanish importation of Rwanda in the same period was 0.49 million euros. The main chapters imported in 2012 were: coffee (75.3% of the total); juices and vegetable extracts (18.9%); nuts (3.5%); cathodic oscilloscopes and oscillographs (1.4%) and basketry articles (0.6%). In 2013, until November, imports amounted to 0.9 million euros and INDRA SISTEMAS and ISOFOTON are the main Spanish companies operating in Rwanda.[5]

Rwanda has not traditionally been a country of cooperation for Spain, nor is it on the list of priority countries of the Master Plan for Spanish Cooperation 2013–2016. The development cooperation that is carried out with Rwanda is done multilaterally.[6]

In the 2006–2009 period, the Autonomous Communities dedicated a total of €5,282,360 to Rwanda as development aid, with Extremadura standing out (€603,000), Navarra (€1,060,000), Basque Country (€1,361,900) and C. Valenciana (€1,235,155). The rest are punctual and minor contributions from the Junta de Andalucía, Baleares, Aragón, Cataluña, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León.[6]