KIGALI, Rwanda – The government will continue to support and promote cross-border trade and capital flows in the East African Community (EAC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to strengthen value chains and build partnerships.

“Everything in Rwanda is profitable. Indeed according to the 2014/15 World Economic Forum annual report, Rwanda is the most competitive economy in the region and is ranked 3rd on the continent. The country has a strong investment environment including stability, peace and security. The continued reforms in the doing business environment has laid the foundations for Rwanda to develop into a top investment and trade destination,” Rwanda’s Premier, Anastase Murekezi said last week.

He was officiating at the 18th Rwanda International Trade Fair (RITF) 2015 that brought together over 383 participants from 18 countries across the globe.

“We need to mobilize the private sector, create a strong vibrant Rwandan private sector to harness opportunities created by donated policy reforms and embark on robust SMEs development strategy implementation to fully utilize the potential of our economy,” he said.

However, as the country works towards creating a vibrant domestic trade and investment climate, it is challenged to increase exports to attract more investment, to provide more employment opportunities, and to speed up technology transfer and skills development.

At the regional level there has been many efforts to facilitate trade and transport by building infrastructure for trade across EAC, countries, borders, especially the implementation of key initiatives in the northern corridor including the single customs territory, the electronic cargo tracking system, the use of ID cards as travel documents, the EA single tourist visa and the one- stop border post among others.

Murekezi said, “This year’s exhibition attracted over 383 participants from 18 countries with a good range and quality products which is a testimony of the potential of our countries to become major players in production and trade of various types of products and services”.

“This realization, according to Rwandan’s seven years government programme (2010-2017) is a key priority and a powerful tool to spur economic growth to raise living standards of Rwandans and to reduce poverty in the country,” the Premier said.

It is planned that in the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy 2 (EDPRS 2, 2013-2018), Rwanda will register an annual industrial increase of 12%, hence accounting for 20% of the country’s GDP.

“This explains more why the Rwandan government supports exhibitions, such as this one, to support trade expansion,” the Premier said.

This exhibition has a very high potential to market different products to over 270,000 consumers who are expected to visit this RITF, 2015.

He urged countries and exhibitors present to continue playing a key role in trade promotion, encouraging industrial and SMEs sector development by opening new market opportunities and attracting investment from all corners of the world.

“I also urge all the exhibitors to use this platform to showcase their goods and services as well as their innovations which will in turn link them to the consumers of their products and other exhibitors who have knowledge that they can build on to increase their skills and productivity and thus make a lot of profit,” the Premier said.

In order to boost the country’s productivity, the government has elaborated comprehensive policies and strategies that place businesses at the center and forefront of development initiatives.

“This event has become a tradition, to the extent of being part of the annual agenda of the Rwandan business people. It has become a must attend rendezvous for entrepreneurs, manufacturers and traders from the East African community region and other countries from the continent and beyond,” Rwanda’s Minister of trade and industry, Francois Kanimba said.

“This has certainly made this event grow in magnitude, improved its standards and it’s no doubt, it has turned into a fast growing world class exhibition,” Kanimba said.

The RITF has grown and has become an important window for Rwanda’s investment promotion.

“Some foreign companies which have exhibited in the past have set up shops in Rwanda and some local companies have acquired new machineries and related technologies acquired from foreign exhibitors who participated in previous exhibitions,” the minister said.

Kanimba said, “Trade fairs in Rwanda have also been an avenue for self assessment in a sense that producers and traders interact with consumers and share the appreciation of their products”.

“This has generated ideas, enabled innovation, products development, quality improvement, and ultimately improved products and services standards for effective competitiveness,” he said.

Kanimba commended the private sector federation efforts in organizing this year’s event that in a big way goes to strengthening regional cooperation and creates opportunities for mutual beneficial trade and investment partnerships.

“A day of this nature is an evidence of how trade fair in Rwanda has progressively grown and its importance in the development of the economy of this country,” CEO PSF, Steven Rugwabiza said.

“The RITF continues to be an important forum to achieve the objectives of working together with the international community towards a united and prosperous world,” Chairman PSF, Benjamin Gasamagera said.

Among the countries participating in the two weeks event are the EAC countries, Botswana, India, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, UAE, Singapore, and Malaysia.

The event was organized by PSF, sponsored by a couple of companies such as RwandAir, MTN Rwanda, among others.

Source: East African Business Week

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.