Rwanda’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Beata Habyarimana, has said business growth between Rwanda and Zimbabwe must be facilitated for the benefit of the region.

She said this at the ongoing Zimbabwe Rwanda Trade and Investment Conference in Harare on Monday.

The conference follows the first one, which took place in Rwanda last year, and gives impetus to the two countries' efforts to strengthen commercial ties and accelerate the implementation of mutual programmes and projects.

Speaking at the event Habyarimana commended the efforts by Rwanda Development Board and Zimtrade in forging business relationships between the two countries.

She said there was need to build on progress made from the last conference and facilitate business growth between the two countries.

"This conference comes at an opportune time in forging bilateral relations between the two countries and I commend Zimtrade and RDB in their efforts to promote bilateral trade and investment opportunities between the two countries Our cooperation has indeed grown exponentially in the last five years with agreements signed in various sectors of common interest such as education. From this conference we need to facilitate business growth between Rwanda and Zimbabwe so that we enhance trade between African countries,” Habyarimana said.

The President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa who was the guest of honour said trade volumes between the two countries must reach full potential.

"The cordial excellent relationship between Rwanda and Zimbabwe should continue to spur the growth of businesses across various sectors of the economy. We have the collective responsibility to shift the trend which was characterised by low trade volumes between our two friendly countries despite the huge potential," the Zimbabwean president said.

Zephanie Niyonkuru, the Deputy CEO of RDB, said that the partnership between the two countries was also important for other countries in the region.

"Since the conference we held last year, we saw more businesses getting registered. We want to make sure that we increase the contribution of our members of the private sector to the development of our two nations. This will not benefit only us but also countries within the region," Niyonkuru said.

The conference's theme is 'Explore, Invest, Export,' which reflects the generally held belief that trade, investment, and exports are vital drivers of long-term socio-economic development and growth.

The conference, which runs till March 31, is being attended by 60 Rwandan businesses and close to 200 Zimbabwe business people and senior government officials.

Two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in the areas of trade, investment and climate change and an implementation agreement with Zesa Holdings were signed presided over by the President of Zimbabwe.