VILLAGE URUGWIRO - The City of London Corporation has pledged to work closely with the recently established Rwanda Development Board (RDB), especially in the area of capacity building.

This was revealed by Sir Michael Snyder, the Deputy Chairman of Policy and Resources Committee at the City of London after his meeting with President Paul Kagame at Urugwiro Village yesterday. He said that his meeting with the President centred mainly on areas of cooperation between the City of London Corporation and different institutions in the country.

He said that his institution has been working with the Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency (RIEPA) which is now under RDB and the City of Kigali on different initiatives.

"This is not my first time in Rwanda and I had previously met the President in London…we shall be exchanging information on skills development and skills promotion,” said Snyder.

Francis Gatare, the former Director General RIEPA, now a Deputy CEO of RDB said that Snyder has played a significant role in transforming the economy of London especially in finance.

"London has become a leader in international finance and Sir Snyder played a significant role in achieving this. So we are looking forward to benefiting from his expertise in this regard, especially with the newly created RDB,” he said.

The government recently amalgamated seven institutions mainly in the service sector to form the RDB, a move that was attributed to consolidating resources for effectiveness.

Gatare added that they will also use the cooperation to lure the numerous London-based banking institutions to open up investments in Rwanda adding that the cooperation will add value to the developmental initiatives that are already in place.

Snyder’s visit to Rwanda is a follow-up on a symposium held in the United Kingdom with the theme "Challenges of improving investment climate in Africa”. It was organized by the City of London.

This symposium where President Kagame was the keynote speaker was organised to examine the business climate in Rwanda and Tanzania, which they termed as East Africa’s most progressive and business-friendly countries. During his speech, Kagame called for the expansion of institutional development to include the question of mindsets.

"This is because, in my view, successful public administration requires a different mentality that incorporates commitment, shared purpose, rapid decision-making and generally a sense of urgency in implementation,” he told the symposium which took place in November last year.

He also said that by improving the environment for investment, countries stand the chance of attracting business which is the only tool for generating wealth.

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