Political relations between the European Union and Rwanda have been developing steadily since the independence of Rwanda in 1962, establishment of the presence of the European Union in Rwanda in the mid-1980s and formalisation of the relations in 1991 with the signature of an "accord de siege" with the Rwandan Government.

The EU’s joint foreign and security policy, manifested in the EU's Global Strategy is designed preserve peace, strengthen international security, promote international cooperation as well as to develop and consolidate democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The strategy ensures the credibility, responsiveness and coherence of the Union, in particular, by joining up EU and Member States' external policies, in areas such as trade, development cooperation, humanitarian aid, or migration. 

The EU and Rwanda share interests and policy priorities in keeping peace and security in the region, in particular, the African Great Lakes region, but also more broadly on the continent, and jointly cooperate in a number of missions (e.g. Central Africa) and initiatives (Emergency Transfer mechanism for refugees evacuated from Libyan camps). Through political dialogue, the possibility of cooperation and coordination of approaches on multilateral matters, such as climate diplomacy, international migration or the international trading rules is pursued. 

Political relations between the EU and Rwanda are part of a broader EU – Africa partnership anchored in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy adopted by Heads of State and Government at the second EU-Africa Summit in 2007. During the 5th AU-EU Summit on 29-30 November 2017 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, EU and African leaders adopted a Joint Declaration on 'Investing in Youth for Accelerated Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development' - external link. Following up on this, the former President of the EU Commission J.C. Juncker announced a new Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs in his State of the Union Address on 12 September 2018, proposing to 

• boost strategic investment and strengthening the role of the private sector to create jobs
• invest in people by investing in education and skills
• strengthen business environment and investment climate
• tap the full potential of economic integration and trade.

While initially the focus has been primarily on development cooperation, the signature of the ACP - EU Partnership Cotonou Agreement in 2000, created space for broadening of bilateral relations also to political, economic and trade areas through the establishment of a platform for regular political dialogue as well as other types of formal and informal consultations.

Economic and trade relations between the EU and Rwanda are substantial as the European Union is Rwanda's second largest trade partner (second for Rwandan imports and fourth for exports), accounting for about 12 per cent of its total trade. EU exports to Rwanda are mainly manufactured products such as machinery, transport equipment and chemicals. EU imports from Rwanda are dominated by primary products, especially agricultural goods and vegetable and mineral products. The EU is also Rwanda's biggest foreign investor. EU private capital stock represents around 17% of the total foreign capital stock in Rwanda.

The EU and the EAC have finalized negotiations for a conclusion of the EU – EAC comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which Rwanda and Kenya signed on 1 September 2016, with other EAC members yet to follow. The agreement covers trade in goods and development cooperation. It also contains an extensive chapter on fisheries – aiming mainly to reinforce cooperation on the sustainable use of resources - and foresees further negotiations on services and trade-related rules in future.

The Export Helpdesk provides all information to existing or potential exporters from Rwanda and the East African Community (EAC) for access to the EU single market.

In order to achieve greater results in terms of poverty reduction and development, the Government of Rwanda aims to place more emphasis on accountability towards the citizens and that citizen participation in decision-making processes. The 11th EDF Accountable Democratic Governance Programme (ADGP) is contributing to address these gaps by supporting:

 a. The Parliament so that parliamentarians can carry out their oversight, legislation and representation functions more effectively. 

 b. The Office of the Ombudsman in relation to investigation and prosecution of corruption and to make the right to information a reality for all Rwandans. 

 c.  The Ministry of Justice with the aim to improve access to justice, focusing on the decentralized justice actors, including the Abunzi committees (mediation committees dealing mainly with land disputes), and legal education. 

 d.  The National Authorizing Office (NAO) with the aim to contribute to efficient and effective programming and implementation of EU funded projects and programmes through a greater integration of the NAO functions into the national system.

 The EU Delegation also supports economic governance through different projects in coordination with other Member States. These projects aim specifically:

• To reinforce the capacity of the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) to produce reliable policy-oriented statistics;
• To reinforce public finance management through specific support to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (Minecofin), the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) and the Office of the Auditor General.

The EU has been a long supporter of Rwanda in the area of rural development, agriculture, social protection, environment and natural resources. In June 2016 EU and Rwanda have signed a new financing agreement for allocation of €200 million as EU budget support to the transformation of the Rwandan agriculture. The funding supports government programmes to improve nutrition among rural communities, expand the number of food-secure households, make farmers more efficient in cropping patterns and land use, and extend the irrigation network to cover more households. It also helps to spread agro-forestry in hilly and terraced areas, target job opportunities among export-oriented agricultural producers and processors, and provide suitable loans to farmers.

This budget support is accompanied by complementary measures and programmes funded under regional and international envelopes. In particular 4 mains work streams have been developed.

• Strategic support to the Ministry of agriculture and its agencies with: i) the mobilization of a €5 million Technical Assistance to support planning and the management of effective agriculture services; ii) the support with FAO on the design of the fourth Strategic Plan Agriculture Transformation (PSTA 4); iii) the co-funding with World Bank of the design, testing, implementation and dissemination of rigorous agricultural impact evaluation; iv) the support to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda on the development of upgraded Seasonal Agriculture Surveys.
• Agroforestry, evergreen agriculture and agro-ecology with: i) a Technical Assistance to the Ministry of Environment to support the planning and budgeting of agroforestry activities; ii) projects with IUCN, ICRAF, World Vision and CCOAIB on the development of agroforestry, evergreen agriculture and agroecology techniques with the communities and the integration agroforestry programs into district development plans.
• Good governance in agriculture through enhanced civil society and farmers’ organizations engagement with the financing of 4 projects with Action Aid, Trocaire, Imbaraga and International Alert.
• Development of an intensive and high value addition agriculture with: i) the support with FAO to the development of value chain platforms and agriculture innovation (CDAIS); ii) the construction of a new laboratory for export crops and a related technical assistance; iii) the support to horticulture and coffee value chains through grants to Tearfund, ICU and Oxfam.

Nutrition, food security and gender are cross-cutting in all our activities. It is complemented by a technical assistance to support the Rwandan Government's efforts to improve the nutrition of mothers and children through innovative and cost-effective behaviour change approaches towards improved nutrition outcomes.

EU funding is linked to the EU – Rwanda policy dialogue on agriculture, whereby EU co-chairs Agriculture Sector Working Group (ASWG) and Sector Wide Approach Group (SWAP) and participates in cross-sector Food and Nutrition Technical Working Group, and in the Sector Working Group on Environment.

European Union supports Rwanda’s objectives of an increased and improved mobility of people and goods, more affordable transport for a better access to essential services, good quality infrastructure and improved safety for goods and passengers. As part of this effort, the EU has financed upgrade and rehabilitation of 700 km of rural feeder roads between 2013 and 2016 with a contribution of €40 million. The EU also supported the rehabilitation of the Kigali-Gatuna road (€34.7 million), which forms a part of the Northern Corridor linking Rwanda with Uganda and Kenya, and co-finances rehabilitation of the 208 km Kagitumba-Kayonza–Rusumo road with a 20 Million Euro contribution from the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund (link is external) via the African Development Bank. The EU financial support is coupled with EU – Rwanda policy dialogue on transport.

Infrastructure is also a major focus in a regional programme 45 Million Euro regional programme implemented by the Communauté Economique des Pays des Grands Lacs (CEPGL) (link is external) in which main activities include construction of the provisional access road to Ruzizi III site as well as construction and supervision of cross-border and urban roads in Gisenyi-Goma, Cyangugu-Bukavu and Bujumbura-Uvira.

The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) offers needs based humanitarian assistance to Rwanda in line with the implementation of EU's Humanitarian Implementation Plan for the Great Lakes Region. In this context, the EU is together with EU Member States one of the main financial and technical supporters of UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) (link is external) globally and together with the UNHCR and the Government of Rwanda helps to provide assistance to the refugees from the Great Lakes region residing in the country. In addition, the EU provides a €10.3 million support package to the UNHCR's Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) in Rwanda, offering a life-saving avenue out of Libya for people in need of international protection, with a view to their further resettlement.

Furthermore, the EU is also contributing to international response and preparedness activities on the outbreak of Ebola in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.