Andrew Mitchell, the United Kingdom’s Minister of State for Development and Africa is expected in Rwanda later this week, according to reliable sources. ALSO READ: New UK trade scheme rolled out, Rwandans set to benefit Mitchell visit to Rwanda comes at a time when both countries boast of “deep and meaningful” ties covering many areas of mutual interest, among which is trade, education, migration, and social protection among others. Just recently, Rwanda started trading under the UK’s low-tariff scheme, which cuts tariffs on products entering the UK from 65 developing countries, as well as simply trading rules so that more products qualify. ALSO READ: Rwanda to feature in UK’s new preferential trade system In general, trade between Rwanda and the United Kingdom improved significantly seeing the trade volume grow by 6 percent to reach more than Rwf41 billion in 2021. The next big event on the agenda is the UK-African Investment Summit in London on 23-24 April 2024, in which Rwanda is expected to participate. The Summit will build on the results of the UK-African Investment Summit 2020, which announced over £6.5 billion of deals, plus a further £8.9 billion of investment commitments. At the Summit in 2020, the World Bank issued its first Rwandan Franc local currency bond on the London Stock Exchange, giving international investors exposure to Rwanda and supporting the development of the local capital market.
