Ghanaian delegation in Rwanda to explore business deals

A Ghanaian delegation is in Rwanda to explore business opportunities and also discuss potential areas of strategic partnership between the two countries.

The 30-member delegation, made up of members of the Ghana Tourism Operators Federation (GHATOF) and affiliate businesses, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and some selected journalists, will tour the country in seven days.

Rwanda is a rare example of how luxury eco-tourism and focus on visitor safety at all times can drive a country’s travel industry to greater heights.

The sites the delegation will visit include the volcanoes, towering almost 15,000 feet above sea level and home to few of the world’s surviving silver-back mountain gorillas, golden monkeys and other primates, as well as the Akagera National Park.

The Chief Executive Officer of GEPA, Dr. Afua Asabea Asare, said as a promoter of Ghana’s non-traditional exports to the global market, the authority did so in collaboration with the tourism industry, such as the GTA.

“What we do dovetails into what happens as part of tourism in Ghana, having forayed into the sector,” she said, adding that the Aburi Craft Village renovation was part of the example of attracting tourists to have the arts and crafts experience locally and not only when exported.

She expressed the belief that Ghana-Rwanda relations which had come to stay could only grow stronger.

The President of GHATOF, Ms. Bella Ahu, expressed gratitude to Ghana’s Honorary Consul in Rwanda, Mr. Dennis Karera, for the warm reception and readiness to assist Ghanaian interests in that country.

She said the offerings in Rwanda were opportune and said the delegation was keen on working closely with its counterparts in that country to package their tourism destinations to the rest of the world.

Do business in Rwanda

Karera urged Ghanaians to take advantage of business opportunities in Rwanda.

He said Rwanda, a fledgling economy on a mission to develop quickly, had vast opportunities in tourism, education, telecommunications, manufacturing, the construction industry, among other sectors beckoning for suitors.

Mr. Karera, who is also a Rwandan businessman said the consulate was prepared to assist Ghanaians set up and do business in Rwanda, where they could capitalise on the vast East African Common Market.

According to Mr. Karera, Ghana and Rwanda had a lot that they could leverage for their mutual benefits, saying some work had started on cocoa trade.

“There are interesting conversations going on at the highest level about what people in the cocoa industry could learn from Rwandan Pyrethrum farmers, and vice versa,” he said.

It involved RDB and the Rwandan Pyrethrum company, where the Heads of State of both countries have been briefed on progress in the business of trading in pyrethrum, the organic flower used as an active ingredient for the production of the insecticide pyrethrin which could be used in the cocoa industry.

Rwanda is the world’s largest producer of best quality pyrethrum, a product which Ghana sources from the United Kingdom, at four times the price at which it could be obtained from its African peer.

Mr. Karera further said Rwanda opened its doors to Ghanaian investors many years ago, and that for the past nine years up till 2019, Ghanaian businesses took part in the Rwandan International Trade Fair, where made-in-Ghana goods performed very well.

The honorary consul said direct flights between the two countries had shortened the travel time from an average of three days to five hours.

Already, there are 72 Ghanaians living in Rwanda, working mostly with international organisations such as the United Nations, and the private sector, such as banking, insurance, telecommunications, education and military cooperation, where instructors from Ghana teach in the Rwandan Military Academy and the general teaching profession.

“So the country is open to as many more as you may wish, as it has a very liberal economy where people do not cut corners and there are no bureaucracies,” the honorary consul added.

Opportunities  

Before the delegation left for Rwanda, the High Commissioner of Rwanda in Ghana, Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, told journalists that the trip was more than just a touristic visit, saying it was about creating relationships and partnerships as a way of boosting intra-African tourism and trade.

“For us to do business together better, it is important that we know one another more, and there is no better way to achieve that than by visiting. We plan that soon after the visit by the Ghanaian team, their Rwandan counterparts will also visit to discover more about Ghana.

“Through these visits, opportunities for partnership aimed at creating value for the two peoples will be identified,” she said.