Nadeem Faisal Baiga
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Rwanda have agreed to strengthen bilateral trade and investment relations, signaling a new phase in economic cooperation between the two countries. The commitment was reaffirmed during the inauguration of the Rwanda Coffee Festival in Islamabad by Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan and Rwanda’s Minister of Trade and Industry Prudence Sebahizi, followed by high-level ministerial discussions.
The talks focused on enhancing direct supply chains, diversifying exports, and leveraging each other’s strengths to access regional and continental markets. The meeting was also attended by Rana Ihsaan Afzal Khan, Coordinator to the Prime Minister for Commerce, highlighting the importance Pakistan attaches to deepening economic engagement with African partners.
Addressing the ceremony, Minister Jam Kamal Khan emphasized the vast but underexploited trade potential between Pakistan and Rwanda, particularly as both countries are agro-based economies. He noted Pakistan’s growing consumer market, annual tea imports of nearly USD 3 billion, and rising coffee consumption, observing that Rwanda’s premium coffee is well-positioned to tap this demand. He added that Pakistan’s market of over 250 million people could serve as a gateway for Rwandan products to Central Asia and Western China.
The Minister also highlighted Pakistan’s export strengths, including rice, textiles, pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments, sports goods, agricultural machinery, and home appliances, noting that Pakistani tractors are already being exported to African markets.
A key outcome of the meeting was progress toward finalizing a Memorandum of Understanding on Trade and Economic Cooperation, which will provide an institutional framework for collaboration in trade, investment, manufacturing, and logistics. Both sides stressed the importance of establishing direct Pakistan–Rwanda supply chains and reducing shipping times, which currently extend up to 45 days.
Rwanda’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Prudence Sebahizi, described Pakistan as a major potential market for Rwandan exports such as specialty coffee, spices, and value-added products, while positioning Rwanda as a strategic entry point for Pakistani businesses into Africa. He noted that under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Rwanda offers access to a unified market of more than 1.4 billion people, and confirmed that Pakistani rice is already being re-exported from Rwanda to other African countries.
Both sides also explored future cooperation in light engineering, cosmetics, mining, information technology, digitalization, and artificial intelligence, agreeing that joint ventures, regular business delegations, and sustained private-sector engagement are essential to translate commitments into concrete results.
Concluding the engagements, Minister Jam Kamal Khan expressed optimism that Pakistan–Rwanda relations would continue to grow on the basis of mutual benefit and shared economic interests, with both countries pledging close coordination to strengthen business-to-business ties in the months ahead.
