Kigali, 4 September 2014

President Kagame today received the Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo, who is on a consultations tour of the world, in bid to try and bring to conclusion an ongoing stand-off that has seen the deadline of signing the Trade Facilitation Agreement missed. The Director General aims to share with world leaders the ramifications of the delay on global trade and possible solutions and way forward.

The Director General said discussions with President Kagame focused on bilateral and multilateral trade approaches as well as the ongoing challenges in the Trade Facilitation Agreement negotiations.

“We also talked about the relationship between Rwanda and the WTO in terms of capacity building, technical assistance, trade facilitation, border controls and it was an open ended discussion and very productive.”

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Francois Kanimba said The World Trade Organisation has been a partner of Rwanda for a long time in terms of capacity building and technical assistance.