The first-ever Rwanda-Hungary Business Forum was organised by Rwanda Development Board (RDB), on the sidelines of the second Economic Forum of the annual Transform Africa Summit in Kigali, on Tuesday. The forum, which attracted close to 100 attendees from the private and public sector of both countries, was meant to showcase investment and business opportunities in Rwanda they can partner in. Speaking during the event, RDB Chief Investment Officer, Guy Baron said: “There are various profitable investment opportunities in Rwanda in the priority sectors of the country’s economic development. Rwanda has also established itself as a leading proof-of-concept investment destination for many companies on top of being among the easiest and safest places to do business in the world. In addition to the bilateral trade agreements with other countries, we look to establishing the same with Hungary and exploring different ways we can work together.” The Hungarian Deputy State Secretary for Export Development at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, H.E Istvàn Joó, said: “Hungary is a developed economy that’s advanced in its industrial, agriculture and services sectors. We want to work with the Rwandan public and private sectors to see how we can promote more trade between our countries by having the Hungarian Export – Import Bank finance more traders and SMEs in addition to exploring investment opportunities in ICT and water, among others, in order to improve the lives of Rwandans.” Rwanda’s imports from Hungry stood at US$ 820,000 in 2018, up from US$ 798,000 in 2017, while it exported goods worth only US$25,000 to Hungary last year, down from US$ 38,000 in 2017.
