Manufacturers across the East African Community (EAC) partner states will soon set up a lobby association to promote their interests. 

Claudine Mukeshimana, the executive director of the Rwanda Association of Manufacturers, said the body is geared at creating a conducive environment for the sector to thrive and become more competitive.

"It will also be used as a platform for manufacturers to meet, network and push for common goals through information sharing, and seeking solutions to the challenges faced by the sector,” Mukeshimana said.

She was speaking during a manufacturers’ meeting in Nairobi, Kenya over the weekend. "It will help strengthen our (Rwanda’s) footprint in the region, build on competitiveness and open new opportunities for us,” Mukeshimana told Business Times.

She added that the body will also play a central role in helping find solutions to business-related challenges, including illicit trade within the region.

"It will play a pivotal role in pushing for enactment of the Industrialisation Strategy Bill in the regional assembly (EALA), and harmonisation of Value Added Tax (VAT), Mukeshimana added.

Betty Maina, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers chief executive, told reporters in Nairobi that network’s first priority will be to review the common external tariff.

"It will help us understand each member’s strengths and expertise as well as lobby for the adoption and implementation of the EAC Industrial Act.

The Act seeks to deal with undesirable business practices and help foster regional industrialisation.

Gilbert Ndagijimana, the managing director of SOIMEX Plastic, a film extraction and packaging factory in Rwanda, said the initiative will allow local manufacturers to access regional markets more easily.

"It will strengthen the ongoing efforts to operate as one region, which gives us an opportunity to share and learn from each other’s experience.”

Rwanda’s manufacturing sector grew by Rwf67 billion during the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to Rwf68 billion during same period the previous year, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda.

The sector also contributed only 5 per cent to the national growth domestic product (GDP).

Already, efforts to establish partnership between local firms and peers from the other EAC member states are ongoing, according to Eusebe Muhikira, the acting head of export and business development at Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

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