Giving highlights on why Rwanda was chosen to host the 2014 World Export Development Forum earlier this year, International Trade Centre (ITC) executive director Arancha González said the country was a leader in business reforms.

González also said in developing its small and medium scale enterprises, Rwanda was touching on the nerve chords of ITC, for these are what the organisation stands for.

And, for these developments, the organisation chose Rwanda as the host of the 2014 World Export Development Forum.

The event that starts Monday will also be an opportunity to mark the 50th anniversary of ITC, a subsidiary of World Trade Organisation.

"2014 marks ITC’s 50th anniversary and Rwanda is the natural choice. Rwanda is a leader in business reforms, cutting red tape, creating an investment-friendly climate, economically empowering women and developing its small- and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), much of what ITC stands for,” Gonzalez had said.

Explaining the modalities of selection of the host country of the event, trade experts told The New Times that though organisers decide from a number of countries that have offered to host the event they choose a country that will serve as a role model to other countries in one way or the other.

Innocent Bulindi, the chief executive of Business Development Fund, said that 98 per cent of businesses in the country were SMEs, making them the biggest drivers of the economy; hence the development.

"If you consider it from the angle of how many firms are investing over Rwf75 million or how many are employing more than 100 people, you realise that SMEs dominate the economy,” Bulindi said.

Implementing the SME Policy Framework that was put in place to facilitate small businesses was among Rwanda’s strength, the chief executive said.

"We have a national SME development policy that brings together all different players and pillars that manage a range of issues from access to finance, access to markets, access to new technologies, legal framework to tax issues,” Bulindi said.

BDF implements the third pillar, which is financing of the enterprises. Access to markets is managed by Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and Private Sector Federation (PSF) implements access to new technologies, legal framework, tax issues, you will notice that it has brought together all the different stakeholders.

He added that without leadership and government support all these could not be achieved.

A vote of confidence

Speaking to The New Times, Amb. Valentine Rugwabiza, the minister for East African Community Affairs, who while the chief executive of RDB signed an agreement to host the event, said it was a show of recognition of what is being done in the country to make it attractive to small and medium scale entrepreneurs and investors who are the back bone of the economy.

"Contrary to some other countries, growth in Rwanda has not relied entirely on natural resources; it has been as a result of putting in place an environment that is attractive and has enabled the private sector to gain confidence Private investment may not be at par with public investment but they are growing steadily,” Amb. Rugwabiza said.

Under the theme, "SMEs: Creating jobs through trade,” the Forum will explore the role of vibrant SMEs in driving trade-led growth and development as they have proven to be the backbone of the economy in developing countries where they contribute two-thirds of employment, creating job opportunities for growing populations.

The Forum is expected to attract more than 500 business leaders from around the world.

Expectations from the Forum

Among the government’s expectations from the Forum is the emergence of linkages between local enterprises and multinationals and international firms.

"There are a number of sessions that will take place, some of them will be bringing together business people, creating connections. We expect to see our SMEs getting connected to multinationals and begin pursuing deals jointly,” the minister explained.

In these sessions Rugwabiza said that there will be discussions on acceptable quality standards and business modalities that they could use while doing business together.

"The meeting will also provide a chance for delegates to find out that through Rwanda and local SMEs they not only have access to the country but to the East African Regional Market,” said Rugwabiza, who is also a former Deputy-Director General of WTO.

Beyond bringing together business people to iron out deals, the forum will also create an avenue for policy makers who will also be present to identify the bottlenecks holding back entrepreneurs in their respective nations and work on ways to get around them, the minister said.

Besides African countries, other delegations expected at the event will come from The Netherlands, China, India, Britain and a host of Asian countries.