Rwanda feelings about trade agreements

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• Rwanda Country Commercial Guide
  • Doing Business in
    • Market Overview
    • Market Challenges
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    • Trade Barriers
    • Import Tariffs
    • Import Requirements and Documentation
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    • Investment Climate Statement
    Trade Agreements Last published date: 2024-05-02

    Rwanda is one of 21 members of the COMESA that offers preferential terms of trade for its members. Rwanda is also a member of the WTO and joined the EAC in 2007 and the Commonwealth in 2009. It is also a member of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes and the Economic Community of Central African States. Rwanda hosted the signing ceremony for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement in 2018 and was one of the first countries to ratify that agreement. It entered into force in May 2019 and trading theoretically started in January 2021, but no trade has practically taken place due to delays in negotiations. In July 2022, AfCFTA Secretariat unveiled the “Guided Trade Initiative” to pilot meaningful trade. Seven countries with fully published tariffs were selected including Rwanda. For the pilot, the AfCFTA earmarked a list of products including ceramic tiles, batteries, tea, coffee, processed meat products, corn starch, sugar, pasta, glucose syrup, dried fruit, and sisal fiber. Using AfCFTA certificates of origin and the guided trade facility, Rwanda shipped its first consignment of coffee to Ghana in October 2022. While the EAC now has a Customs Union and Common Market, the slow pace of regulatory reform, lack of harmonization, non-tariff barriers, and bureaucratic inefficiencies still hamper the free movement of goods, capital, and people. Except for apparel products, Rwanda is eligible for trade preferences under AGOA, which the United States enacted to extend duty-free and quota-free access to the U.S. market for many goods produced in eligible beneficiary countries. Rwanda qualifies for special tariff treatment under the Generalized System of Tariffs. Rwandan exports qualify for the United Kingdom (UK)’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) and the European Union’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Certain Rwandan exports also qualify for the PRC’s Zero Tariff program for African countries.

    The United States and Rwanda signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in 2006, and a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) in 2008. The most recent TIFA meeting was held October 28-30, 2019.

    Rwanda has active bilateral investment treaties with Germany (1969), Belgium-Luxemburg Economic Union (1985), the Republic of Korea (2013), Singapore (2018), and the United Arab Emirates (2017), Rwanda signed bilateral investment treaties with Mauritius (2001), South Africa (2000), Turkey (2016), Morocco (2016), Qatar (2018), Democratic Republic of the Congo (2021), and Central African Republic (2019) but these treaties have yet to enter into force. Rwanda signed the Economic Partnership Agreement between the EAC and the European Union; this agreement has not yet entered into force.