Kigali, 19 April 2019 - Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Dr. Richard Sezibera received a New Zealand Parliamentary delegation led by Rt Hon. Trevor Mallard, Speaker of New Zealand House of Representatives. Speaker Mallard handed over to Minister Sezibera the archives related to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. New Zealand becomes the first country to handover to Rwanda such historical records.

Their talks also focused on strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation in various sectors as well as ongoing preparations of the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2020, also known as CHOGM 2020.

Rwanda and New Zealand enjoy a warm and friendly bilateral relationship with cooperation that covers mainly capacity building. The two countries established their diplomatic relations on April 17, 2012 and are respectively represented by their Non-resident Missions in Singapore and Addis Ababa.

In 1994, when both countries served on the United Nations Security Council, New Zealand took a strong stance in urging UN action to end the Genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda. Thus, Ambassador Collin Keating, who was the Permanent Representative of New Zealand at that time, was conferred “UMURINZI”, Rwanda’s Campaign against Genocide Medal on 4th July 2010.

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