Luxembourg, Rwanda Businesses Explore Trade Opportunities

In addition to several high-level government meetings, the official visit of the Luxembourg delegation to Rwanda on Tuesday 7 June 2022 was the opportunity for a business networking breakfast event at Hôtel Onomo in Kigali, organised by the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT).

The venue itself has ties to the Grand Duchy; the majority shareholder of the Onomo hotel chain is the Luxembourg-headquartered Batipart Group.

The breakfast event included speeches from Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who received a painting of himself in the colours of the Rwandan flag from representatives of Hôtel Onomo, and the Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Franz Fayot. The Prime Minister noted that the purpose of this visit was to explore how Luxembourg and Rwanda can work together going forward. Similarly, Minister Fayot emphasised the importance of bilateral relations between these two countries and continents. He highlighted the difference between relations between Luxembourg and other partner countries, such as Niger (which the delegation visited earlier in the week*), which focus primarily on humanitarian aid, and those between the Grand Duchy and Rwanda, which have become more trade oriented. He described this as "a new generation of cooperation".

Minister Fayot later elaborated on the slogan of "trade, not aid", noting that Rwandans "want us to work together in the field of building a financial centre which is really focused on inclusive finance, fintech, green finance, sustainable finance, through capacity building, through exchange of expertise". He also highlighted the areas of digitalisation, sustainability and environmental technologies. He continued: "They are looking to us to build that capacity and to help them build economic opportunities, which are combined of course with imperatives like fighting climate change and being more environmentally minded". He added that such a relationship could also be explored with other partner countries in the future.

Guests at this networking event included Soraya M Hakuziyaremye, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, and Eric Karekezi, Technical Advisor at the National Bank of Rwanda, as well as Luxembourg private sector representatives, Rwandan startups and members of the Luxembourg press. Among those representing Luxembourg’s private sector during the official mission to Rwanda were POST Group, B Medical Systems, Koosmik, Suricate Solutions Security & Payments (Excellium Group), Broadcasting Centre Europe (BCE), Société Européenne des Satellites (SES), LHoFT – Catapult Inclusion Africa, WEO and RSS-Hydro and the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce.

Speaking to Chronicle.lu, Thomas Bertrand, International Affairs Advisor for Africa at the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, described the official visit to Rwanda as a "big step for the bilateral relations". In June 2019, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce organised a trade mission to Kigali with a delegation of fifteen companies from the Grand Duchy. During this (first) visit, they explored the potential for bilateral economic collaboration between Luxembourg and Rwanda. The Chamber of Commerce carries out an annual survey that showed that Rwanda is one of the top five countries in which Luxembourg companies are interested. "We are responding to the growing interest of the private sector towards Rwanda", Mr Bertrand said, adding that the presence of both Luxembourg's Prime Minister and the Minister of the Economy on Tuesday 7 June 2022 "provided significant support to fulfil our objectives in Rwanda". The companies present this time were mainly from the technology or ICT sector, although there is also an interest in Rwanda in the sectors of construction, cleantech and finance.

For his part, Minister Fayot noted that the visit "was really about seeing if there are possible connections between the Rwandan business community and the Luxembourgish business community, in this spirit of creating a mutually beneficial relationship". He confirmed that Luxembourg was focusing on the aforementioned specific sectors as identified by Rwanda itself. "We are here because we are being asked by our partners in Rwanda to focus on these specific sectors […] In that context, they are asking for our help and our cooperation, and that’s what we are doing", he explained. "And in that respect, I think the private sector is an important partner. When you talk about digitalisation, that happens also a lot in the private sector. Same for finance. So, what the Rwandans are asking us is something that we have to do together with the private sector".

As for the next steps to take in this trade-based collaboration, Minister Fayot told Chronicle.lu: "We have made good progress in identifying projects, agreeing on the sectors in which we are going to work together. […] They now have to make formal request through their Ministry of Foreign Affairs to us to mandate Lux-Development with certain defined projects and we have today asked them to come up with very specific projects which are already ready and identified by them on which they would like to work together". He also hinted at plans to send a representative of Lux-Development SA (LuxDev), Luxembourg’s aid and development agency, to Rwanda as early as September this year. "So, we are really making good and fast progress", he concluded.

Indeed, the visit to Kigali served as an opportunity for Luxembourg private sector representatives to explore new partnership and project possibilities in Rwanda. For instance, Luc Provost, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of B Medical Systems, a leading Luxembourg-based medical equipment manufacturer, and Jesal Doshi, Deputy CEO, referred to their positive discussions with representatives of Rwanda's Ministry of Health and expressed optimism over a potential future partnership.

Chronicle.lu also had the opportunity to speak with representatives of Rwandan businesses at the networking event. Richard Muragijimana, Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of yegobox, explained how he had learned of the event online and felt it was an interesting opportunity to connect with people from Luxembourg and explore avenues of potential collaboration. Yegobox is a Kigali-based software company offering various tools for businesses.

Patrick Cyuzozo, Founder and CEO of Imigongo Online Market, was also present and hopeful for future business opportunities with Luxembourg. Imigongo Online Market is a marketplace that promotes, sells and exports authentic made in Rwanda products. The company mainly works with small and medium-sized enterprises and "helps women’s cooperatives and youth to present their beautiful made in Rwanda products all over the world", Mr Cyuzozo told Chronicle.lu.

*Links to Chronicle.lu's reports on the Luxembourg delegation's official visit to Niger on 5 and 6 June 2022:
(Day One) https://chronicle.lu/category/abroad/41251-niger-visit-day-1-luxembourg-pm-highlights-need-for-development-defence-diplomacy-in-sahel
(Day Two) https://chronicle.lu/category/abroad/41290-niger-visit-day-2-luxembourg-delegation-take-stock-of-development-cooperation-humanitarian-achievements