Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda are expected in Kigali, on February 6, for a state visit to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various existing fields.

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His visit comes about eight months after Foreign Ministers from both countries signed an agreement on the training of diplomatic personnel, and discussed matters to do with fostering economic exchange, cooperation in agriculture, engineering, and IT sectors.

Duda’s visit is part of his working trip to East African countries including Kenya and Tanzania. According to the Poland Presidency, the visits are part of the Polish international mission initiated in 2017 to build relations with African countries. His itinerary in Rwanda indicates that he will hold bilateral talks with President Paul Kagame, preside over the signing of cooperation agreements between both countries, visit Kigali Genocide Memorial, and attend a Polish business forum, among others.

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Rwanda and Poland have, over the past years, cemented bilateral relations in various fields of higher education, defense, agriculture, trade, and investment, among others. Currently, there are more than 1,500 Rwandan students in Poland, which is the largest number of international students from one country.

Rwanda opened an embassy in Poland’s capital, Warsaw, in 2021. Later, in December 2022, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Rwanda was established in Kigali, adding more impetus to the two countries’ fast developing cooperation.

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In July 2023, the two countries signed a tax solidarity agreement aimed at improving efficiency of Rwanda’s tax system by reducing the tax gap, combating tax avoidance, tax evasion and digitalizing tax administration. The MoU provided a solid ground for sharing knowledge, information and best practices regarding tax management.

In the past five years, Poland managed to increase compliance, doubled income tax and reduce VAT gaps and therefore, has a lot to offer Rwanda with regards to best practices in effective tax administration.

Having learnt about Poland’s successful reforms in areas of taxation and automation of the tax system, Rwanda was ready to work the former to accelerate its own reforms. The MoU between the two countries followed Rwanda’s ongoing tax reforms intended to reduce tax rates, broaden tax base, improve tax compliance and reducing tax evasion.

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The nonbinding agreement mainly focuses on Value Added Tax (VAT), in particular on reducing the tax gap, combating tax crime, providing solutions against informal economy, as well as proposing reforms facilitating entrepreneurship. It provides Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) with insights into Polish solutions on base erosion profit shifting, based on but not limited to OECD standards.

The MoU also allows Rwanda to improve its digitalization of tax administration, in particular on using digital systems to detect tax crime, improving taxpayer digital services, enabling submission of digital tax returns and invoices as well as improving tax administration work efficiency.

Poland is also known for expertise and capacity in the industrial sector, specifically manufacturing as well as value addition and exports of food to most of Central and Eastern Europe. In early 2020, a visiting business delegation had expressed interest in Gabiro Agribusiness Hub Project (GAHP), a commercial agricultural ecosystem developing an advanced modern value chain of approximately 15,600 hectares of arable land.

In December 2022, during the Rwanda-Poland Business Forum held in Kigali, Polish and Rwandan businesses explored investment opportunities in various areas including education, finance, ICT and health.

Agro-processing, mining and information communication technology are some other areas in which Rwanda could benefit if it partners with Poland.

Among other things, by and large, good bilateral relations also offer the local private sector an opportunity to penetrate more European markets using Poland as a gateway. Rwanda is looking to diversify its export market and Poland is one of the European markets on target.

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Polish investors are also encouraged to invest in Rwanda, considering the latter’s good doing business environment. Rwanda is among a few economies in Sub-Saharan Africa that have continued to improve their business climate.

Polish investors have visited Rwanda several times to explore trade and investment opportunities, with some expressing interest in the agriculture and agro-processing sector. Polish investors have noted that they are open to cooperation and can use their experience in Rwanda’s economy, to the benefit of Rwandans.

The central European country is a bicameral parliament republic with a population of more than 38 million people; the overwhelming majority being Roman Catholic.

As of 2023, Poland’s economy and gross domestic product (GDP) of $1.7 trillion ranked as the sixth largest in the European Union, with exports of goods and services valued at approximately 62.6 per cent of GDP by the end of 2022, according to World Bank. It was the only European economy to have avoided the recession of 2008. In 2019, it passed a law that would exempt workers under the age of 26 from income tax.

Although Poland is a member of the European single market, it has not adopted the Euro as legal tender and maintains its currency – the Polish złoty.

Exporters and investors are drawn to Poland due to the country’s large population, well-educated and competitive workforce, strong prospects for economic growth, and location affording broader access to the European Union market of 448.4 million citizens. According to the latest data, 62 per cent of the employed population works in the service sector, 29 per cent in manufacturing, and 8 per cent in the agricultural sector.

However, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forecasts that Poland’s GDP will slow to 0.9 per cent growth in 2023 from 4.9 per cent in 2022. This slowdown is mainly due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Leading sectors have historically included automotive, aerospace, information technology hardware and software, food products, transportation, pharmaceuticals, paper production, appliances, and financial services.

History, nature, fun fact

Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I. Naturally, it is a country punctuated by great forests and rivers, broad plains, and tall mountains. Warsaw is a combination of modern buildings with historic architecture, most of which were heavily damaged during World War II.

Fun facts about Poland include being home to the world’s biggest castle – the Teutonic Order in Malbork – and home to the first upside-down house in the world built in a forest.