Relations between Germany and Rwanda are wide-ranging. In December 2023, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock travelled to Kigali for the opening of the BioNTech vaccine production facility. In 2022, then-Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta visited Berlin, and Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze as well as Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke visited Rwanda.

Development cooperation between the two countries is a major component of bilateral relations. In Rwanda, where despite strong economic growth and development achievements more than 50% of the population still live in poverty, it focuses on sustainable economic development, training and employment, peace and societal cohesion, as well as climate and energy. Close cooperation also takes place in the area of the digital transformation.

Rwanda is part of the G20 Compact with Africa initiative launched by Germany to improve economic framework conditions. Since the COVID‑19 pandemic, Germany has also been an important partner to Rwanda in the field of health, for example through the work of the Robert Koch Institute, the multilateral COVAX vaccine initiative as well as the opening of a BioNTech vaccine production facility.

The Goethe-Institut has been represented in Kigali as an independent institute since 2014. In addition to providing support to the education sector, the focus in Rwanda is on cultural projects and on offering scholarships. The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has maintained an office in the country since 2018.

Land Rhineland-Palatinate has maintained a close partnership with Rwanda since 1982 and has its own coordination office in Kigali. In 2022, Minister-President Malu Dreyer visited Rwanda in the context of the celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of this partnership, in which many non-state players are also involved, including universities, associations, schools, churches and enterprises.

Rwanda, as part of German East Africa, was a German colony from 1884 until 1916.