Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said this year's Commonwealth Heads of State Summit, taking place in the Carribean state of Trinidad and Tobago, holds immense importance for the EAC, due to Rwand a's pending application to join the Commonwealth.
Rwanda formally severed diplomatic ties with former colonialist France following a spat over the 1994 Rwanda genocide. French officials have in the past accused Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the cur rent EAC Chairman, of complicity in the 1994 Rwanda bloodbath.
Speaking during a recent tour to Kenya, President Kagame said Rwanda's bid to join the Commonwealth was motivated by the "geo-political and economic interests."
"We are looking at the volume of trade that exists between the French speaking countries of our region and the Commonwealth member states. It is difficult to resist the allure of a large group of English-speaking countries, also given that it is also the language of the Americans," President Kagame said in Nairobi.
President Kibaki, who arrived in Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago Thursday, said Rwanda's application to become the 54th member of Commonwealth was among the key issues on the agenda of the meeting.
The meeting is also expected to galvanise concensus on the future of the climate ahead of the UN Climate change Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Rwanda formally applied to join the Commonwealth group of states after exiting the Organisation of the Francophonie (IOF), the respective organisation that brings together all the former French colonies.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy is among the guests attending the Summit, which got underway on Friday.
It is expected that the meeting would hammer out policies that would shape the way the member states deal with issues of youth empowerment.
Nairobi - Pana 29/11/2009
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