KIGALI - Egypt plans to help in the development of the Textile and Garment industry in Rwanda through disseminating information and conducting trainings.

This development was announced yesterday by Clare Akamanzi, the Deputy CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB) during the ongoing workshop on the analysis of the industry’s potential in Rwanda.

The expected outcome of the workshop is a draft text highlighting necessary policies, strategies and programmes to increase the industry’s competitiveness for it to have a significant social and economic impact in Rwanda.

"Since Egypt exports 95 percent of its products to European countries, we hope they will go along way to guide us and be a case study in the development of our own industries,” Akamanzi said during the workshop.

She acknowledged the low level of awareness of the potential the silk industry can have in the country, shortage of design skills, marketing and branding expertise was still a problem.

Last year, the then Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency (RIEPA) signed an agreement with the ACP Business Climate Facility (BizClim) to undertake a study on the Textile and Garments industry in Rwanda.

The report of findings shows that the development of a local silk industry would employ a large number of people in the rural area; especially women and also help to develop markets for other products.

"Silk is not native to Rwanda. However mulberry trees have been planted in different regions with a discrete level of success. The area under sericulture is estimated to grow from 15 to 3000 ha,” reads the report in part.

According to the report, there is a need to establish a strong network between government and all the organisations directly involved in the silk industry to forge basis for a harmonious development of the sub-sector.

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