Barbados provides opportunities for Rwandan businesses – Honorary Consul Rubagenga

A lot is now expected from Rwanda-Barbados bilateral ties, building on last week's state visit by the latter's Prime Minister Mia Mottley to Kigali. Prime Minister Mottley, alongside her delegation, spent a few days in the country to explore investment opportunities, with their Rwandan counterparts. As a result, two agreements including a bilateral air service agreement, and sports development were reached as both countries sought to strengthen economic bilateral ties. In the same light, leaders of both countries reiterated the need for a connected and proactive Africa-Caribbean region. The New Times' Edwin Ashimwe caught up with honorary consul of Rwanda to Barbados, Emery Rubagenga, to get a glimpse of expected outcomes of the visit, key takeaways for businesses, as well as prospects of the AfriCaribbean region. Excerpts, A lot happened last week, where we saw high profile engagements between both countries. But what would you say are the key takeaways especially for the business communities? Indeed last week, Prime Minister of Barbados, H.E Mia Amor Mottley completed a three-day State Visit to Rwanda, she was accompanied by a business delegation and several heads of investment promotion agencies. The business communities of the two countries discussed common areas of investment interest, exploring together the opportunities available in the two countries. Building on that, we expect a follow-up trade mission in May, 2023 to take place in Barbados. Several MoUs, bilateral deals were signed during the same visit. How do you plan to ensure that they materialise? The relationship between Barbados and Rwanda is driven by both leaders, they are very committed to have strong diplomatic ties established, enabling business or even investment strategic partnerships. These agreements signed have put together a very strong foundation, from which institutions of public and private sector can build from. Last week, you personally helped officially open the honorary consulate of Barbados in Rwanda. How important is this? Diplomatic ties are extremely important to connecting the dots when it comes to creating awareness of the opportunities available, sharing the crucial and up-to-date information. The aim of having a Barbados Honorary Consulate in Kigali is mainly to establish a bridging instrument to constantly serve as the representative of this important partnership. In a larger perspective, the African continent and the Caribbean region have a lot to share, Barbados and Rwanda can be the connector countries. Though they are in limited numbers, there is an increasing number of members of the Diaspora in both countries. What would you say is their role in strengthening ties for both countries? The diaspora of many countries accounts for a respectable portion of GDP, it is therefore an undeniable contributor, adding to their individual expertise, understanding of the international ecosystem and capacity to serve as natural ambassadors of their homeland. Private sector players, during last week's business engagements, raised concerns on challenges hindering expected outcomes. Have you taken note of any? Many challenges that might currently constitute a barrier to the development of the Barbados-Rwanda relationship should actually be perceived as opportunities that should be explored in-depth. For instance, the absence of an airline connecting the African continent and the Caribbean region is a good example. The signature of an Air Services Agreement is already a good step in the right direction. Leaders of both countries, have on multiple occasions, reiterated the need of playing a critical role in bringing together the African and Caribbean regions. Are there any specific topics discussed regarding this matter? As mentioned by our leaders, though Rwanda and Barbados might fairly be considered as small countries, they both have big dreams and very strong implementation processes in place combined with their leadership capacity to sit at the high table to participate in shaping the global strategic decisions. I therefore believe that it’s the perfect timing for our countries to connect, exchange, and learn from each other. Departing shot The GDP per capita of Barbados is $17,000, with a small demography of less than 300,000 inhabitants, without specific natural resources. This is an interesting business case for Rwanda. At the era when Rwanda, through its Kigali International Financial Center (KIFC) is strategically positioning as a financial hub, the potential of tapping into Barbados global investment treaties leveraging such an ecosystem is definitely huge. On another end, the technological government platforms of the Rwandan Government (Irembo) have drawn the attention of Barbados authorities and cooperation in e-government services is considered by both parties as a low hanging fruit. In brief, we have some much to learn from each other.

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Barbados provides opportunities for Rwandan businesses – Honorary Consul Rubagenga