The European Union has invested more than €900 million (approx. over Rwf1.2 trillion) in Rwanda, including in areas such as health, critical raw materials, and agro-food industry development, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
This is being done under Global Gateway – a European strategy to boost smart, clean, and secure links in digital, energy, and transport sectors and to strengthen health, education, and research systems across the world.
Launched in 2021, the Global Gateway is the EU’s contribution to narrowing the global investment gap worldwide, according to information from the Commission.
Von der Leyen made the disclosure on Monday, December 18 as she met with President Paul Kagame. The two leaders discussed how to take the EU-Rwanda partnership forward, including mutually beneficial investments under the EU Global Gateway strategy, according to a statement from the Commission.
"Global Gateway is investing around about €900 million in Rwanda. But important is not just how much we are investing but also how we are investing. For us, it is very important to come with high environmental and social standards, and with transparency,” she observed.
"We want to share technology and knowledge because that is crucial for a genuine partnership. I think it is important to train the local workforce because investment in people is the most sustainable investment you can think of. And we want to create good local jobs, for the people of Rwanda by bringing in public but also private investment,” she indicated.
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She said that one of the three different elements for investments is the health sector.
"We have just inaugurated BioNTech Africa, an mRNA-producing facility to manufacture vaccines at scale on the continent. This means, vaccines made in Africa, for the African people. And it serves Rwanda&039;s ambition to become a leader in vaccines and health services in Africa,’ she said.
"So, we have discussed today the intense work that we are doing together. Global Gateway, or the European Union, is organising twinning meetings between the Rwandese health authorities and their counterparts in the European Union. We are financing lab equipment, e-health technologies, and medical skills programmes. All these are very important to have a conducive environment for the private investors,” she said.
"We have just signed a €40 million Team Europe funding package to invest in Rwanda's pharmaceutical and biotechnological sectors with a very special focus on research, development and entrepreneurship,” she added.
Advancing agro-food industry, including Kigali Wholesale market
The second element, von der Leyen said, is that Global Gateway delivers for the agricultural business industry.
"It is a strong sector here in Rwanda but it is also an industry or a sector that is faced with several challenges: price volatility, scarcity, and the impact of climate change. And here, Global Gateway invests with €380 million (approx. Rwf522 billion) in the competitiveness of the food industry in Rwanda,” she remarked.
"In particular, we are very much looking forward to the construction of the Kigali Wholesale Market – a big and very ambitious project. It will become the central distribution hub in Eastern and Central Africa for fresh and processed food. And therefore, this will have an exceptional impact on job creation for the people here in Rwanda,” she observed.
According to information from the National Agriculture Exports Development Board (NAEB), it was estimated the construction of that Kigali Wholesale Market would cost Rwf29.5 billion, and have the capacity to handle 180,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables per year.
Value chains for critical raw materials
Von der Leyen said that the third sector for partnership is the focus on the value chains for critical raw materials.
She cited the agreement between Rwanda and the European Investment Bank, and a cooperation on critical raw materials between the European Union and Rwanda.
"And here, it is important that we partner with Rwanda for this very strategic industry because we want to go – and this is a crucial point – beyond exploration and extraction,” she said, pointing out that sharing skills in mining including processing raw materials, which would help Rwanda to develop activities with high value-added, like processing but also refining.
This will help Rwanda's companies with new products to access new markets and to export to partners, she indicated.
Under Global Gateway, Team Europe will mobilise up to €300 billion of investments for sustainable and high-quality projects, between 2021 and 2027, taking into account the needs of partner countries and ensuring lasting benefits for local communities, as per information from the Commission.