Rwanda president calls for more investments in the country

Rwanda President Paul Kagame has called for more investments both foreign and local in the country in a bid to accelerate Rwanda's economic growth to attain middle income status.

He was addressing about 2,000 members of the local and foreign business community during the Meet the President dialogue at the Kigali Convention Centre late Monday in Rwandan capital Kigali.

The President said investments will generate employment opportunities and create wealth that will lead to equitable development of the small central African country.

"My ambition is to see the country moving towards middle income status and this will be achieved through massive investments both local and foreign. We are aiming at having an inclusive development process where citizens can feel that they are part and parcel of the development agenda of the nation," he noted.

Kagame emphasized that his government is committed to creating an environment conducive for doing business, adding that the role of government is not to do business but to facilitate investment.

"The prevailing environment in Rwanda was conducive for investment. We are looking forward to more investors exploring untapped business opportunities in our country," he said.

The Rwandan leader pointed out that the government will continue to invest in infrastructure in order to bring down the cost of doing business in the country.

According to Benjamin Gasamagera, the chairperson of the Rwanda Private Sector Federation, the local investors are committed to reducing imports, especially agriculture products.

"As members of the private sector we are targeting to increase exports by 28 percent annually through 2018. We are looking at investing in new energy projects and creating more jobs for the youth," he said.

Rwanda has put in place a good business environment that is corruption free and reducing the hours of registering a business from 24 hours to 6 hours hence attracting both local and foreign investors.

The country has also opened strategic business offices in different countries like Turkey, Canada, UK, US, South Africa, Singapore and China, with the aim of promoting investments in those countries.

Available statistics indicate that in 2014, Rwanda registered investments worth 549 million U.S. dollars, out of it, 213 million U.S. dollars were Foreign Direct Investments, while 159 million U.S. dollars through joint ventures with local investors. Endit