President Paul Kagame scheduled to address the US-Africa Business Dialogue
President Paul Kagame will next week speak at the Presidential Dialogue on the Future of U.S – Africa Business Relations in New York.
A statement by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) says that the dialogue will bring together select African Heads of State, CEOs of major U.S. and African firms.
The dialogue seeks to discuss business environment in Africa broadly, key investment opportunities and potential ways to forge U.S.-Africa business relations and partnerships.
The event will be held on the sidelines of a week-long United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Presidents Kagame, Hage Geingob of Namibia, Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria will speak at the dialogue.
The dialogue is the leading U.S. business association focused solely on connecting business interests in Africa.
Economic projections by International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and African Development Bank indicate that Africa is the world’s next economic powerhouse, and US looks to it as a potential partner.
Rwanda is U.S’ key trade partner. Last year, former U.S. President Obama added 27 travel and luggage goods from developing countries on the list of products that receive duty-free treatment in US under an Annual Product Review of June 2016.
Rwanda is one of the Priority countries enlisted as a beneficiary for Tax-Free exports to the United States of America.
The U.S and Rwanda signed Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) in 2012.
“Rwanda is currently our 177th largest goods trading partner with $60 million in total (two way) goods trade during 2015,” according to U.S Department of Trade.
In terms of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) registered in Rwanda, U.S. companies have at some point taken the lion’s share of all projects counted at the end of the year, according to Rwanda Development Board statistics.
For instance, according to RDB figures, United States was Rwanda’s top investor in 2014 after Symbion Power – an American energy investment firm, invested $157 million into extracting methane gas from Rwanda’s volcanic Lake Kivu – currently supplying 26 MW to the national grid.
The firm’s investment accounted for 40.2% of Rwanda’s total FDIs registered that year.
Other American companies have since continued to flock Rwanda’s untapped investment opportunities.
In March last year, Culligan International – an American firm, completed a 25,000m3 water plant dubbed Nzove project to help the country solve the biting water crisis.
The firm will build the second phase at a combined cost of $28 million.
Rwanda Development Board in June announced the country’s targets to fetch $1.5 billion worth of foreign direct investments.
As of May this year, RDB says, projects worth $500 million from 49 investments had been registered, with 33 more foreign projects worth $1 billion in the pipeline.
Meanwhile, President Kagame has been luring foreign investors into Rwanda and Africa.
Corporate Council on Africa is a key resource for conducting successful business in Africa and in an era of shifting U.S. policy and rapidly changing markets.
