He made the remarks at a state dinner in honor of visiting President Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar on Monday 7th, August 2023.

As he hosted his counterpart to a dinner at Kigali Convention Centre, Kagame reminisced on the negative impacts the pandemic (COVID-19), climate change, and geopolitical tensions have brought onto the continent.

He, however, noted that having challenges is not the issue; instead, leaving those challenges unaddressed is.

“In Africa, it is sad that there are people who think we are cursed to have the challenges we have, yet they don’t appreciate what they have. That can be transformed to address those challenges,” he stated.

“It is true that Africa is blessed with natural resources, but this fact on its own cannot change the status quo. We must sit down together and carve out better strategies to benefit from our collective wealth. That is the purpose of visiting each other,” he added.

Kagame also expressed his dissatisfaction with foreign countries that have made it a point to violate everything in Africa and later come out to teach lessons about values and human rights.

“In Rwanda, we have tried to do our best to address our challenges the best way we can, and we will not stop doing so, no matter what anyone thinks about us. Those values we can talk and debate, but there are no values better than ours,” he stated.

To Madagascar, the president promised that they have a reliable friend in Rwanda and the people of Rwanda.

According to Kagame, Rwanda and Madagascar have a long-term objective to bring prosperity to their people and the African continent. The two countries also have international membership in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), which makes their relationship stronger.

In 2019, President Paul Kagame visited Madagascar and invited Rajoelina to visit Rwanda.

The Head of State also hinted at memories of his visit to Madagascar in 2019 and underscored the need for closer cooperation.

“We still have good memories of the visit we made to your country in 2019 that will make a big difference for our two countries. We wish to learn a number of things from one another as we respectfully work together to see that we move this continent closer to that place where we all want to be,” he remarked.

Rajoelina arrived in Rwanda on Sunday evening for a three-day state visit.

Before hosting the dinner on Monday, Kagame received his counterpart for discussions on areas of mutual interest at Urugwiro Village.

During the visit, Rwanda and Madagascar signed a private sector cooperation agreement to boost economic development as part of the Rwanda-Madagascar Business Forum.

The agreement was signed by Jeanne-Françoise Mubiligi, the Acting Chairperson of Rwanda’s Private Sector Federation (PSF), and Guy Foka, President of the International Commission of Groupement des Entreprises de Madagascar (GEM).

Rwanda Development Board (RDB) also signed an implementation plan of a previous MoU from February 2019, aiming to facilitate investment flow between Rwanda and Madagascar through capacity building and professional skill enhancement.

President Kagame hosted his counterpart of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina to a state dinner at Kigali Convention Centre.

President Kagame has expressed his dissatisfaction with foreign countries that have made it a point to violate everything in Africa and later come out to teach lessons about values and human rights.

President Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar has been in Rwanda for a three-day visit since Sunday.