From 27^th to 29^th June 2019, Rwanda along with other African countries participated in the First China Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) in Changsha, Hunan.

CAETE is one of the follow up actions of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

Under the theme of ‘Win-Win Cooperation for Closer China-Africa Economic and Trade Partnership’, the Expo attracted more than 1,600 guests from 53 African countries and over 3,500 Chinese and foreign exhibitors, buyers and professional audiences.

Addressing the media at the Rwanda Pavilion, the Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda in China hailed the three-day expo organization. “Rwanda sees the first China Africa Economic and Trade Expo as a success, Rwandan firms have seen positive feedback from their counterparts in Changsha,” Ambassador said.

During the event, experts, businessmen and officials from China and African countries discussed the methods of strengthening cooperation between the two sides through conferences, seminars, forums and exhibitions.

On the first day of expo, Rwanda embassy participated in the Zhejiang-Africa Trade and Investment Conference.

According to Director General of Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province, Mr. Sheng Qiuping, Rwanda has strong relations with the Zhejiang Province following the launch of the first Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) in Africa last year in Kigali. He added that, eWTP will link Zhejiang to the rest of Africa as continent.

Zhejiang Province capital city, Hangzhou is one of the cleanest and green in China and host of the Alibaba headquarters. 

At the conference, Ambassador Kayonga invited Chinese enterprises to invest in Rwanda. He said that Rwanda is the second on the continent of Africa in doing business adding that the country has moved 11 places to the 29^th position worldwide in the ease of doing business ranking, according to the 2019 World Bank Doing Business report. Rwanda is among other countries that are reforming their business regulations to excite the private sector and drive economic growth. Ambassador noted.

Ambassador Kayonga added that, Rwanda is committed to continue working on further improvements in keeping with vision of a private sector-led economic transformation.

At the expo, Rwandan companies showcased different products including agricultural related products such as processed fruit juices, processed chili pepper, honey, roasted coffee, tea and handcrafts, among others.

Sosthene Kabayiza, from Damarara, a coffee production firm described expo as an added opportunity to Rwanda firms to explore Chinese market.

“We are thrilled  to be part of the first China Africa Economic and Trade Expo, we have exhibited our products and many Chinese visitors have liked them, we have got many contacts to work together to promote our products,”  He added.

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