The first ever Rwanda-Luxembourg Business Forum was organized by RDB (Rwanda Development Board) and the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Kigali today.

The forum, which attracted close to 100 attendees from the private and public sector in both countries, showcased investment and business opportunities in both Rwanda and Luxembourg.

15 companies from Luxembourg, with interests in investing in Rwanda’s ICT & innovation, infrastructure, manufacturing and real estate sectors, attended the forum.

Speaking during the event, the RDB Chief Investment Officer, Guy Baron said:

“There are opportunities in both countries in ICT, cyber security, areas of innovation in banking using Fintech, construction, consumer goods and the industrial sector. Forums like this are an important part of bringing a level of expertise, capital and partnerships that will help drive the transformative initiatives we have in developing the different economic sectors.”

The Director of International Affairs from the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, Jeannot Erpelding said:

“This being the very first trade mission from Luxembourg to Rwanda, we have found a lot of commonalities between our two countries’ economic development agenda. There is a lot of potential to work together through partnerships even at the level of working with small and medium companies. We have a delegation of business people from different sectors we came with and they are looking to doing business together with Rwandans. This forum is a first step for people to get to know each other, identify business opportunities and see how to partner in Athem.”

Robert Bapfakulera, the Chairman of the Private Sector Federation in Rwanda noted:

“This business forum is beneficial to the Rwandan private sector as we get to learn from other people. Luxembourg is very developed in sectors like its financial sector and ICT, which makes it very important for us to learn from them. We look forward to different knowledge sharing sessions and partnerships in areas that will further Rwanda’s economic development.”

Rwanda’s major export to Luxembourg is the mineral, Tantalite. Last year, Rwanda exported goods worth over US$ 8.36 million to Luxembourg in total while in 2017 it exported goods worth over US$ 6.5 million.