The Rwanda Development Board together with the Embassy of Rwanda in China organized a roadshow in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Donguan cities to showcase Rwanda’s investment and tourism opportunities to Chinese investors.

The Roadshow, dubbed as Rwanda week in China and organized in the margins of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation- FOCAC, entailed investor forums in Beijing and Shenzhen attracting over 400 companies as well as one on one sessions with targeted Chinese investors and tour operators.

Speaking at the forums, the Rwanda Development Board’s Chief Operating Officer Emmanuel Hategeka encouraged participants to visit Rwanda, invest in Rwanda and highlighted the various reasons and opportunities. “Rwanda is open for business. There are vast profitable investment opportunities and the country offers a best in class business environment that investors can leverage on to successfully do business. In addition, investors to Rwanda can benefit from the bigger East African Community  market of 168 million people as well as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) with 21 member states and a population of 520 million people, where you can export duty free, quota free,” he said.

In addition, Hategeka emphasized that investors should take advantage of the excellent bilateral ties between Rwanda and China, following President Xi Jinping’s commitment to support and facilitate trade and investment through a 60 billion funding for Africa announced during FOCAC.

He added that Rwanda is rated as one of the most efficient governments in Africa, the safest and most secure country to live in and do business. He emphasized that the Government of Rwanda will continue to work with Chinese partners to ensure a win-win situation in trade and investment co-operation.

While at the forum, Hategeka also encouraged Chinese to visit Rwanda noting that Rwanda has everything Africa has to offer in one country; combining breathtaking landscapes, well preserved forests, wildlife, easy access to the rare mountain gorillas, visa on arrival regime and most importantly, a safe environment.

Other key highlights of the roadshow included signing of various agreements - MoUs including one with the China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the China-Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund), one with Chongqing Chamber of Commerce and another with Henan Province to accelerate matching business opportunities between Rwanda and China investors. The $10 billion CAD Fund is a huge opportunity to facilitate FDI inflows to Africa in industrial parks, power generation, transportation infrastructure, manufacturing and other sectors. 

Several factories and industries were also visited by the Rwandan delegation and these include; Huajian industrial park in Donguan that produces shoes and textiles, Qianhai vc incubator (QVCI), Ideal Technology which manufactures electronics and UBTECH which deals with robotics.

Rwanda Development Board – is a government agency charged with facilitating and fast tracking private sector led economic growth. RDB acts as a one stop center for business.

China is Africa’s largest trade partner with close to $200 billion worth of goods with the continent annually.