The Ghana Chamber of Commerce has invited over 40 entrepreneurs from Rwanda to a business meeting on February 20. The meeting  seeks to widen trade cooperation between the two countries.

Denis Karera, the Honorary Counsel of Ghana in Rwanda, told The New Times yesterday that the three-day business gathering organised by the Ghana Consulate in Rwanda and the Private Sector Federation (PSF), is part of efforts to boost Rwanda’s exports by widening the market and strengthening the existing ties between the two countries.

"The business trip will enable both parties to share experiences, market information and new business technologies as well as capacity building in various areas,” Karera said.

Geoffrey Kamanzi, the head of trade negotiations and facilitation at PSF, said the meeting will serve as a platform for networking.

"By linking our members to potential markets in countries like Ghana, we are providing them with an opportunity to increase production,” Kamanzi said.

Kamanzi called on members to take advantage of RwandAir’s daily flights to Ghana to market their products.

"The fact that the national carrier conducts regular flights to West Africa is an opportunity for our business community to exploit and penetrate the West African markets,” Kamanzi said.

Government is counting on the private sector to drive the country’s economic objectives as prescribed in the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II).

Mohamed Mazimpaka, the director of Chamber of Commerce at the PSF, said it’s imperative for the business community to be linked to both regional and international markets.

"It’s through these linkages that people learn and share experience on how business is done elsewhere,” Mazimpaka said.

Claver Gatete, the Minister for Finance, said private sector investments should exceed public investments so as to fast track the country’s economic growth.

Last year, the export sector brought in more money than had been anticipated during the first half of the year, growing at 46.3 per cent in value and 27.1 per cent in volume, above the projected 14.9 per cent growth.

 This earned the country close to $290m (about Rwf197.2b) between January and June last year. Rwanda was ranked 162 out of 189 surveyed countries in the World Bank doing business report 2014 on trading across borders.