In light of the DR Congo’s interest in joining the East African Community (EAC), the East African Business Council is undertaking a study on the opportunities for trade in the vast neighbouring country "to increase knowledge on trade opportunities" mainly for SMEs in the region.

This comes after DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi on June 8, 2019 wrote to the EAC Chairman, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, expressing his country’s wish to be a member of the regional bloc currently comprising Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan and Tanzania. 

Peter Mathuki, the Chief Executive Officer of the EABC told The New Times that the study is being conducted in collaboration with GIZ. 

The study is slated to be launched virtually on Wednesday, August 19.

He said it will, among others, help identify the key supply markets of the DR Congo, "thus enabling SMEs to gauge or even benchmark on the competition." 

Mathuki added: "The DR Congo has applied to join the East Africa Community as the seventh partner state. This study is set to find out the market opportunities that SMEs in EAC can tap into, to export commodities urgently needed for the development of the country such as plastics and rubber, processed foodstuffs, textiles and leather."

"The study will enable SMEs in the EAC to realign and focus their operations to match the growing opportunities in the DR Congo." 

The regional "business for development project," Mathuki explained, is a joint initiative by the Federation of German Industry BDI; the Federal German Ministry for Cooperation and Development (BMZ); the EABC and the EAC Secretariat. 

It is noted that by working with selected 74 growth-oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across East Africa, the pilot project aims to improve their economic perspectives by increasing productivity, competitiveness, and innovation. 

According to the EABC, study findings indicate that the EAC’s exports to DR Congo stood at US$7.4 billion in 2018. 

Mathuki said that with a potential market of approximately 81 million consumers, the DR Congo offers great market opportunities for EAC SMEs to export plastics and rubber, processed foodstuffs, textiles and leather.     

Theoneste Ntagengerwa, the Rwanda Private Sector Federation (PSF) Spokesperson said: "DR Congo is our good trading partner and as the Private Sector Federation we are always looking for opportunities for Rwandan businesses."

"Any information on how we can improve our trade relation with DR Congo will be of great importance given the current trade between our two countries but also the great potential of the trade between DR Congo and EAC. We can only welcome this initiative as we always value information that opens new horizons for our business community."