Prime Minister Édouard Ngirente, on September 30, received the new Trademark East Africa, (TMEA) CEO David Beer as they discussed regional trade. The visit aimed at discussing areas of partnership including regional trade facilitation, promoting economic integration, infrastructure and technology. TMEA is an aid-for-trade organisation that was established in 2010 with an aim of growing prosperity in East Africa through increased trade. Beer said that they have been working with the government and businesses to reduce cost and time of trading across borders, by increasing the competitiveness of Rwandan businesses in the region and across the world. “We have completed a number of projects of around $100million. We are spending $8million this year to achieve these outcomes. At the moment, we are working on the one border post at Rusizi, and we are in the process of developing ports at Lake Kivu. We hope and expect that this will have a significant and positive impact on businesses in Rwanda and the region,” he said. TradeMark is planning to enable East African companies to compete and appeal to consumers with climate change concerns, but also to reduce emissions in the region and make the trade infrastructure more climate resilient. “We are also focusing particularly on digitalisation, we feel we have had a lot of success by developing hard infrastructure, we can further the drive down by investing in digital systems,” he added. Jean-Chrysostome Ngabitsinze, the Minister of Trade and Industry, explained that so far, the company has constructed a number of infrastructures including borders like Kagitumba, Rusizi, Rubavu, Karongi and Rutsiro, adding that it also offers support by collecting tax revenue-related data for Rwanda Revenue Authority through technology. “They have a 10-year strategy, we are discussing to see how we can include other sectors of the economy for investment, and this comes in at the right time as we are joining African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),” the minister added. TradeMark Africa (formerly TradeMark East Africa)’s work revolves around reducing trade barriers through improved transportation and logistics systems, digitisation of key trade processes, enhanced standards and SPS compliance and targeted interventions supporting women and youth in Small and Medium Enterprises in critical sectors. The organisation has spent close to $115,000,000 and has registered commendable results working with regional intergovernmental organisations, the Rwandan government, private sector, and civil society organisations. The organisation works with a number of institutions such as Ministry of Trade and Industry, Rwanda Development Board, Ministry of Infrastructure, Rwanda Transport Development Agency, Rwanda Revenue Authority, National Agricultural Export Development Board, Rwanda Standards Board and Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture, to reduce barriers to trade, as well as with the businesses, Private Sector Federation and its member associations to increase business competitiveness.
