Rwanda has set her eyes on putting in place instruments that remove barriers to trade and investment through increased collaborations with the private sector.

Yves Bernard Ningabire, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, made the remarks on a panel discussing manufacturing and infrastructure development at the ongoing Concordia Summit.

Ningabire was joined by Patience Mutesi Gatera, the Country Manager at Trade Mark East Africa, and Clarisse Iribagiza, CEO of HeHe Mart among others.

Looking at the growth of Rwanda's manufacturing industry, Ningabire said, the sector's contribution to GDP grew from 14.5 per cent in 2016 to 19 per cent in 2019.

"The sector is a key contributor to achieving Rwanda's 2050 targets,” he added.

Boosting capacity

Five days ago, trademark signed a deal with the AfCFTA, with an aim to collaborate on customs, transit and trade facilitation, harmonisation and mutual recognition of standards, said Mutesi.

"We also want to work with the private sector to increase their capacity to trade by developing regional value chains to help firms increase their capacity to add value,” she asserted.

Gatera shared similar views with Iribagiza who pointed out that her firm had embarked on a journey of increasing access to e-commerce tools and services for SMEs.

"Our vision is to increase access to e-commerce tools and services for SMEs,” she added, "We want to use various infrastructure to enable Africa to aggregate its fragmented resources and make them more affordable and accessible.”

After three days of high-ranked dialogues, the Concordia summit comes to a close today, Wednesday September 23.

The meeting brings together heads of government, entrepreneurs, innovators and other notable guests for conversations on social, political and economic topics to elevate the dialogue surrounding critical global issues.