Kigali, 29 May 2019

European consumers are interested in Rwandan products and Rwandan firms are interested in selling on the lucrative EU market. For that reason, the Government of Rwanda (GoR), the International Trade Center (ITC) and the European Union (EU) work together to inform local firms on how to export to the EU.

The EU is the world’s largest single market. With 503 million people and more than 25% of the world’s GDP, it is a good target for any business. Besides, Rwandan firms enjoy preferential conditions to export to the EU that totally remove the duties to pay when entering the EU market. This makes Rwanda products more competitive.

Despite these opportunities, Rwandan firms do not export as much as they can. Although the 2017 exports to Europe accounted for Total: $53.5M, the ITC calculated that Rwanda still have an untapped potential to export $14.5M more.

To help them, the GoR, the ITC and the EU organise a workshop to provide the tools for firms to understand and get updated information on the steps to access the EU market, incl:

• The EU market - how does it work?
• Which certificates do I need?
• How much will it cost? Am I entitled to a reduced duty?

The training will cover tariff and non-tariff measures but the goal is not only to understand them but also to find out how Rwandan firms can independently look for information on trade databases.

The workshop will take place in Kigali on Wednesday 29 May. To participate, firms registered via MINICOM, PSF, and NAEB.

Background

About ITC: ITC is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. ITC assists small and medium-sized enterprises in developing and transition economies to become more competitive in global markets, thereby contributing to sustainable economic development within the frameworks of the Aid-for-Trade agenda and the UN’ Global Goals for Sustainable Development.

The ITC Non-Tariff Measure (NTM) programme has four components: NTM Business Survey, stakeholder consultations, capacity building on NTMs and enhancing transparency on rules and procedures. Further information at: www.ntmsurvey.intracen.org

For more information, follow us at:

MINICOM https://twitter.com/RwandaTrade 

PSF https://twitter.com/psf_rwanda?lang=en 

NAEB https://twitter.com/RwandAgriExport 

EU https://twitter.com/euinrw and www.facebook.com/EUDelegationRWA/  

ITC https://twitter.com/ITC_MktAnalysis and www.facebook.com/ITCmarketanalysistools

EBA https://www.facebook.com/ebarwanda/