Roundup: Rwanda to showcase top investment opportunities at Global Africa Investment Summit

Rwanda is set to present top investment opportunities at the upcoming global African Investment Summit scheduled for September this year in the Rwandan Capital, Kigali.

The investment prospects spanning across four sectors; natural resources, energy, ICT, Agriculture, tourism and infrastructure will be presented to a diverse audience of global businesses interested in long-term investment in Africa.

The country will host the high level investment forum from September 5 to 6, aimed at delivering international trade and investment to Africa's most dynamic region.

The summit, organized by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the government of Rwanda, will bring together global and regional investors representing 200 billion U.S. dollars in managed funds including African heads of state and government, ministers and private sector businesses leaders.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Francis Gatare, chief executive Rwanda Development Board (RDB) said that Rwanda is ready to showcase its top investment areas at the summit that remain largely untapped.

"The event will be an unique opportunity to forge partnerships and make investment a core element to achieving our socio-economic development goals," he added.

Gatare noted that Rwanda offers investment opportunities and is amongst the region's fastest growing economies.

The small central African country has been frequently on top rankings for the best place to do business and to invest in Africa, with an average GDP growth of 8 percent for the last decade, according to RDB.

The forum which is expected to gather close to 1,000 high-level delegates will engage the private sector on the Tripartite Free Trade AREA (TFTA) initiative, and explore how public and private sectors can collaborate to realize the aspiration of Africa's largest single market.

According to the event organizers, developing trade and investment corridors in the TFTA region and attracting investment and private sector players to enhance the physical infrastructure to facilitate the movement of goods and persons will be top of the agenda.

It will also create an environment that enables harmonization through policy and regulation.

However, Sindiso Ngwenya, secretary general of the Comesa said that the summit will provide international investors with a window to the region, adding that Comesa is deepening its role and impact in changing the business platform and policies that is conducive to creating an enabling environment for effective private-sector participation.

"Nations such as Rwanda, South Africa and Kenya position Africa as a viable investment prospect. As more nations follow suit, the continent will be on the cusp of becoming both an economic and technological hub for investment," he added.

Ngwenya pointed out that foreign investors are frequently prone to basing decisions on their perception of a market, in the case of the Africa, which often lead to misconceptions such as a reliance on aid to improve its development, instead of active investments and collaboration.

The two-day meeting will run under the theme: 'Transforming African Economies for Global Competitiveness" and it will cover the infrastructure, power, agribusiness, Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), tourism and natural resources sectors. Endit