US and Rwandan officials convened on Tuesday for the first high-level meeting under the recently-signed United States-Rwanda Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).
The meeting was co-led by Deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia and Rwandan Minister of Commerce, Industry, Investment Promotion, Tourism, and Cooperatives Protais Mitali. It provided an opportunity for US and Rwandan officials to review the full scope of trade and investment relations between the two countries and to identify opportunities for further cooperation and attention.
Among the topics discussed were eliminating tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade; enhancing Rwanda’s use of opportunities available under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA); trade capacity building assistance; issues related to trade-related infrastructure; ways to enhance US-Rwanda investment; and the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round of global trade negotiations.
“The Bush Administration is committed to working closely with African countries that are seeking to advance economic growth and development through trade,” announced Ambassador Bhatia, who led a multi-agency US Government team to the TIFA meeting.
She continued:
"Rwanda is one of our strongest partners in the region in this regard, and the US-Rwanda TIFA provides an excellent mechanism for us to strengthen our cooperation on trade and investment issues. The Rwandan Government has been a champion of free trade and open markets both at home and in the multilateral environment, where it has been an active and constructive participant in the WTO Doha negotiations.”
During the meeting, it emerged that an AGOA National Workshop will be held in Rwanda in February 2007, to help Rwandan businesses to make the most of the export opportunities available under AGOA. Amb.
Bhatia also highlighted two recent grants by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), in cooperation with USAID, totaling $515,000 for energy-related projects. USAID announced at the meeting that it is exploring with the Rwandan government a possible program of technical assistance designed to enhance the business and investment environment in Rwanda.
The two sides also discussed opportunities for increasing investment flows between the United States and Rwanda, including regulatory reforms, improvement of the business and investment climate, and exploration of a possible future US-Rwanda Bilateral Investment Treaty.
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