Chinese investors are seeking joint venture relationships with local firms, a move that could help boost overall investments in the country, a top diplomat said.

"It is better way to set  joint ventures between Chinese investors and Rwandans,” said Shu Zhan, the China’s Ambassador to Rwanda.

He added that China has great potential to influence investments in Rwanda and to provide market for finished Rwandan goods.

"If the government can invest in energy so that investors can build industries to process raw materials to look more attractive for export, then it can be better,” he said.

Government embarked on heavy investments in energy including methane extraction and hydro power generation to increase electricity generation to 100 Mw by 2017 to drive the industrial sector.

The ambassador noted that many Chinese investors are stilli indecisive as they still lack enough information to convince them of the viable investment ventures in the country.

"It is the job of Rwanda Development Board to convince them, so they can write information about investment areas in Xinhua news so that they can read it in China,” he said

Xinhua news agency is multi-media company that owns a number of newspapers, broadcasts across the world, and also aims at promoting businesses and development especially for Africa.

The director General Xinhua news agency, Wang Chaowen, said that Rwanda’s economy is growing fast hence the need to promote this achievement worldwide.

"We hope that new investments will come to Rwanda through our reporting in the news agency. We have to attract not only Chinese investors but also other international investors.”

Wang also noted that Rwanda plays an important role in the investment in the region as it is easier for investors to connect to other parts of the region like eastern DR Congo.

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