The French minister for overseas development, Charles Josselin, says he's looking forward to a new period of partnership between France and Rwanda.

He was speaking during a visit to Rwanda -- the first by a senior French minister for more than four years.

The two countries were allies until the Rwandan genocide of 1994, which the current Patriotic Front government says France indirectly contributed to by its military assistance to the former regime of Juvenal Habyarimana.

Mr Josselin expressed regret that his schedule did not permit a visit to any of the memorials to the genocide.

But he said France fully appreciated what Rwanda had been through and now wanted to help build for the future. The BBC correspondent in Rwanda says Mr Josselin also did not deliver the formal apology that some Rwandans had clearly anticipated.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service