Business between Rwanda and Poland is expected to grow further after Rwanda’s Private Sector Federation signed a bilateral trade agreement with the Polish Chamber of Commerce last week.

According to the deal, Poland will, besides fostering bilateral business partnerships, share expertise with the Rwandan business community in all the sectors of the economy.

The agreement gives the private sector an opportunity to penetrate more European markets using Poland as a gateway.

"We are looking at diversifying our export market and Poland is one of the markets we are targeting in Europe. We will use this opportunity to woo Polish investors to invest in Rwanda,” Hannington Namara, the PSF chief executive officer, said at the signing ceremony. 

We are urging Polish investors to take advantage of Rwanda’s conducive business environment to increase investments in the country, Namara added. 

Charles Ngarambe, the Republic of Poland Honorary Consul in Rwanda, urged the private sector to use the agreement as a platform to share information and entrepreneurship skills and expertise with their Polish counterparts. 

Polish investors from the mining, energy, construction, food and agro-business and information technology sectors are interested to invest in Rwanda, according to Inz Witold Gerliz, the Central Poland Chamber of Commerce president.

"Polish investors are willing to invest in Rwanda.  However, Rwanda should avail information about the existing investment opportunities in the country,” Gerliz said. 

According to Francine Umutesi, the Poland-Africa Partnership and Co-operation international relations executive, Poland will buy Rwanda’s coffee and tea exports. 

Meanwhile, Rwanda is expected to participate in the Second Poland-Africa 2014 Business Congress scheduled for November 6-7 in Poland. The congress will also host a trade show featuring products from African countries, including Rwanda.