In a bid to attract more investments to the country, Rwanda has strengthened its business ties with the state of Arkansas in the United States.

A Rwandan delegation led by the Minister of Infrastructure, Albert Nsengiyumva, is the US to discuss investment opportunities available in the country as well as the economy.

Nsegiyumva said that the success Rwanda had achieved in attracting international business was due to its leadership, which was focused on making it easy for foreign firms to do business in the country.

Arkansas State Governor, Mike Beebe, said that the visit and the discussions held will strengthen the relations between Rwanda and Arkansas.

The Arkansas business community has already invested in Rwanda in projects such as the Musanze Opportunity Centre, which is a vocational training centre owned by Russell Rainey in partnership with the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Workforce Development Authority.

The visit was organised by Russell Rainey, business executives and Friends of Rwanda from the Arkansas business community doing business in Rwanda. The delegation met Pierre U. Ferrari, the President and CEO of Heifer International.

"Heifer project has contributed much to the government’s programme of Girinka (one cow per family project) and I wish to note that the project has made an impact in transforming the livelihoods of Rwandan people,” Rwanda’s Country Manager of Heifer International, Charles Kayumba, said.

The delegation also visited the West Rock Coffee Plant, which has a state of art facilities used to prepare Rwandan coffee for final consumption by the US market. West Rock is one of the biggest US importers of Rwandan coffee. Rwanda coffee is supplied to over 800 Walmart stores in the US.

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