If you were a farmer looking for the best area to grow Irish potatoes or an investor wishing to put up a hotel, a new Trade Atlas is the resource to look for.

Launched yesterday, the Atlas provides a wide range of data including the district with the least hotel beds, or the leading potato producing district.

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Francois Kanimba, pointed out that the new Economic and Trade Atlas is a fundamental tool that will facilitate both foreign and local investors.

He made remarks while officially launching the Atlas that was published by German Development Cooperation in partnership with the government.

"It’s an extremely useful book containing information about the economy of the country, it will provide detailed information and guide especially those looking for investment opportunities in the country,” Kanimba said.

"We shall distribute copies to various government institutions and to our embassies for the world to read and understand the picture of our economy”.

The Atlas contains information from various sectors in the country and used the latest data collection and compiling techniques, including the Geographical Information System (GIS) to come up with the final product.

Dr Farid Hegazy, from German Development Cooperation, explained why it was important to have such a publication.

"There is no such publication in Rwanda and it was aimed at visualising economic and trade related information as its illustrated in 77 maps and 58 charts covering demographics, regional integration ,and other different sectors,” he said.

The book also contains statistical comparison between Rwanda and other regional countries through the use of regional and Sub-Saharan Africa maps.

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