Antalya, 11-13 April 2025 – Minister Olivier Jean Patrick Nduhungirehe participated in the 4th edition of Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) 2025, convened under the theme “Reclaiming Diplomacy in a Fragmented World.” 

The forum brought together global leaders, policymakers, experts, and people from different fields to discuss how diplomacy can help solve global problems.

During this three-day event, Minister Nduhungirehe featured the panel discussion on “Rising Role of Africa in World Politics”. In his remarks, he spoke about Africa’s influence on the traditional governance structure and the AU reforms. 

Speaking on Africa’s rising influence on multilateral platforms, Minister Nduhungirehe emphasized that “The Africa’s influence could offset the traditional governance structure bringing in a neutral party of non-aligned countries that we are as Africans, and we can play an important role in this global structure. But of course, we need to speak with one voice. The African voices can be voiced louder if spoken together as one. - Africa is a rising continent and we should ensure that it has a bigger and stronger voice in international arena.”

On free movement of goods and people in Africa, Minister Nduhungirehe explained that there are still issues including non-tariff barriers hindering the policy, which should be first of all addressed.  

“We signed, in 2018 in Kigali, the African Continent Free Trade Area. We also signed an agreement on free movement of people which is really not implemented. We need to let Africans move on the continent. We have our building blocks, the regional economic communities. We should first start with that to ensure we remove non-tariff barriers; we ensure that all citizens move around without any hinderance,” he stressed. 

He added that “In Rwanda we decided, for example, for the African citizens to remove visa. We actually decided to allow all citizens of the world to get their visa on arrival. They do not need to ask for visa in the embassies. So, we should go that route to do our homework ourselves before complaining from the treatment that we get from outside.” 

On the sidelines of the ADF 2025, Minister Nduhungirehe also held high-level diplomatic engagements including bilateral meetings with:

- General Odongo Jeje, Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. They discussed further strengthening bilateral relations and regional cooperation within the East African Community (EAC).

- ⁠Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Ghana. They discussed enhancing cooperation and advancing common priorities such as the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Ghana opened its first High Commission in Rwanda in 2024.

- Dr. Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Chad and Hon. Andryii Sybiha, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. They discussed further strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation.

- ⁠Hon. Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan. They discussed strengthening bilateral ties and expanding collaboration in multilateral forums, particularly within the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

- Hon. Ali Omar, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Somalia. They discussed increasing bilateral and multilateral cooperation.