It will be her maiden visit to Rwanda after assuming office in March 2021.

IGIHE has learnt that Samia will arrive in Kigali on Monday.

On the first day, Samia will visit Kigali Genocide Memorial where she will pay tribute to over 250,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi laid there before meeting with her counterpart of Rwanda, Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro.

On the second day, Samia will visit Kigali Special Economic Zone in Masoro which hosts different factories from Tanzania.

Her coming to the country of thousand hills follows Rwandan officials’ visits to the country.

Prime Minister Dr. Edouard Ngirente was in Tanzania attending the state funeral for late President John Pombe Magufuli while other Rwandan officials who visited the country include the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Chief of Staff and the Inspector General of Rwanda national Police (RNP).

Among others; Rwanda’s Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire and her counterpart of Tanzania Faustine Ndugulile met recently to discuss projects including telecommunication infrastructure development.

Samia’s visit to Rwanda follows the deployment of 1000 troops of the Rwanda Defence Force and Rwanda National Police to fight insurgency in the northern part of Mozambique.

Located at the north of Mozambique, Tanzania is among countries affected by insecurity in the neighboring country.

Rwanda and Tanzania enjoy cordial relations and cooperation in the areas of politics, infrastructure, economy and security.

Tanzania is considered a major development partner where over 70% of Rwanda’s imports and exports are transited through.

Both countries have a joint mega project to build ‘Isaka-Kigali’, a 532-kilometer railway expected to be completed at a cost of USD $ 3.6 billion.

The project is much anticipated between both countries especially for Rwanda as a landlocked nation.

The long awaited railway linking to Rwanda to neighboring countries is expected to give relief to traders catering for expensive cost of land cargo transport.

The railway on Rwandan side will follow the lowland through Ngoma, Kirehe, Bugesera and Kicukuro districts.

Sources reveal that Rwanda is required to pay US$4,990 per single container carrying 25,400 kgs. Once completed, the railway anticipates reduced transport costs by 40% hence positively impacting on Rwanda’s imports and exports.

Among others, the project will be impactful particularly for Rwandan traders considering the fact that 70% of Rwanda’s imported or exported cargos are transited through Dar es Salaam Port.

The report released by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) in March this year, shows that Rwanda received imports worth US$33,75 million from Tanzania against US$27,97 of the previous month.

Samia Suluhu Hassan during her visit to Rwanda in 2016 to attend the African Union summit. She was the Vice President of Tanzania at that time. Samia was received by the then CEO of Rwanda Development Board, Francis Gatare and Mayor of Kigali City, Monique Mukaruliza.