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The European Union ambassador to Rwanda has commended the country for spearheading the implementation of regional integration process.

Michael Ryan, made the remarks during a meeting with Senate president Dr Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo at Parliament yesterday.

“The East African Community (EAC) has done a lot in terms of free movement of people and fostering common security,” he said.

On reluctance of some countries to fast track the implementation of initiatives, the official said even the European Union faced the same challenges. He said other partners will always come on board with time.

Ambassador Ryan affirmed the European Union commitment to partner with Rwanda in areas of development.

While addressing journalists, the Senate president said they had discussed various issues including infrastructure projects in the country.

“We talked about infrastructure development in the country and the relationship between the European Union and our Senate,” Dr Ntawukuriryayo said.

The EU funds the Senate and Chamber of Deputies in research.

The EAC has always drawn experience from the European Union in various sectors like agriculture and the monetary union.

The EAC partner states and the European Union are involved in negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), a framework that will govern future trading activities between the two blocs.

The latest negotiations were held on Thursday in Brussels, Belgium between ministers from the EAC and EU trade experts.

Both parties noted that further discussions on Rules of Origin of goods and agriculture need to be held at the technical and senior officials level to iron out the outstanding issues, according to a statement.

The EAC and EU EPA negotiations have dragged on since 2007, when the talks kicked off, after failure to agree on how development cooperation issues should be addressed to their mutual satisfaction.

The agreements are meant to bring lesser stringent trade terms between the two blocs. They contain market offers made by both the EAC and European Council (EC) to each other.

Thursday’s negotiations were attended by Phyllis Kandie, Chair of the EAC Council of Ministers, and the EU delegation was led by the Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, the statement said.

New Times

{Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have a good reason to upscale their businesses after I&M bank secured a financing facility worth Frw 7.6 billion from the European Investment bank (EIB). This comes at a time when the government is supporting —“Hanga Umulimo” programme which will see 10 SMEs selected from each of the 30 districts based on their business plans that will be facilitated to access funding and other business support services.}

The loan will focus on small businesses in the country’s key sectors that have been underserved by commercial banks’ current loan products and will alleviate fears that the country’s economic engine lacks access to financing.

“Lending under the initiative will focus on sectors currently underserved by commercial banks, including agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, construction, transport, tourism, education and healthcare,” said Sanjeev Anand, managing director of I&M Bank. “We believe that the long-term financing lines provided by EIB will go a long way in facilitating our efforts to provide investment support to SMEs.”

Unlike the current loan products to SMEs, this facility will also cater to medium term loans of between four to seven years; previously unavailable in the country, this will help small businesses.

“The medium to long-term funding, along with other products and services, make our SME offering one of the most competitive in the market,” Anand said, adding that the SME and corporate sector form the most important part of I&M Bank’s strategy in Rwanda, which is in line with Rwanda’s national priorities for economic development. Moreover, the scheme will reinforce crucial long-term investment by Rwandan companies, most of which are small businesses, to support growth and job creation.

Accordingly, under the new facility, it is expected that close to 1,300 jobs will be created by around 120 small and medium sized companies benefiting from the new engagement.

We are committed to supporting the local financial sector and stimulating private sector development across Africa, and this new scheme is part of our broader engagement to support large-scale investment in water and energy in Rwanda.” said Pim van Ballekom, European Investment Bank vice-president responsible for sub-Saharan Africa.

Experts are convinced that growth of the private sector is essential for economic development and reducing poverty in Rwanda. The European Investment Bank, which is the European Union’s long term lending arm, is working with leading banks across East Africa to support private sector investment and in Rwanda it has been engaging in financing energy, infrastructure, and clean water among others. “This is a timely engagement of the EU lending arm in a sector which is most important for the new development strategy of the Rwandan government,” explained the head of the EU Delegation to Rwanda, Michael Ryan.

The facility comes after the EUR 3 million credit line, also provided by EIB and I&M, that was agreed at the end of 2006. That credit line saw a successful allocation of loans benefiting projects in transport (37%), services (24%), manufacturing (22%), education (8%), construction (7%) and health sectors (2%).

Smaller businesses are one of the developing world’s most powerful economic forces, comprising the lion’s share of employment and GDP. But they should not be seen in isolation. Under the right conditions, they can be key parts of thriving, globally competitive industries, creating the large numbers of jobs needed to reduce poverty. In the right business environment, SMEs can grow into large firms, changing the game locally, carving their niche globally.

But even if remaining small or mid-size, they can create significant income opportunities for their workers and generate new tax revenues for government services. They do so by boosting their productivity and sales and supplying increasingly valuable goods and services. The best ones cannot stay competitive if they stand alone. They are part of dynamic and growing value chains whose job opportunities raise incomes, increase living standards, and improve lives.

{Olive Mukabalisa is a survivor of genocide living in America, in the state of Missouri. She recently graduated from Webster University with Masters degree in International Relations. In 2013, Olive Mukabalisa produced her debut feature film, making her the first Rwandan film producer for long-films. Olive was only six-years old during the genocide against the Tutsis in 1994 when she witnessed her entire family being killed. Here is her story.

{{What have you produced?}}

“The Rwandan Night” is the first film I executive produced and released in October 2013. The documentary is directed by a fellow Rwandan filmmaker Gilbert Ndahayo and has a 95 minutes running time. It was shot in Rwanda (April – December 2006), United States (November 2011) and Switzerland (April 2013). The film is a powerful testament to the pain that is the legacy of the genocide against the Tutsis that claimed the lives of more than one million lives within a hundred days in the spring of 1994.

{{How was your experience working on “The Rwandan Night”, your first documentary feature?}}

It was very emotional and tense. “The Rwandan Night” is a story based on Fidele Sakindi, a genocide survivor. Sakindi was four years old in 1959 and survived everything that has happened to Tutsis people in Rwanda. He lost his entire family.
I wanted to get through the understanding of it all. My parents and my elder siblings were killed in the genocide. I was only six years old. You can imagine how much history that man “Sakindi” has. Sakindi’s story pretty much taught me a lot to what has happened prior to 1994.

{{So, what prompted you to work on the film?}}

I have watched many films on genocide. One of the films I watched was “Rwanda: Beyond The Deadly Pit” which addresses the post genocide situation in Rwanda. It is also another harrowing film from the same director. I met Gilbert Ndahayo on Facebook and when I heard he was working on the second film, I wanted to work with him. Sakindi’s testimony covers all the stages that led to genocide against the Tutsis.

{{What have you learnt in film and what was your contribution?}}

To the film, “The Rwandan Night”? I have had the first hand testimony which has helped me understand events like “Secyugu” (The Lizard), “Muyaga” (The Storm) and all “Acts of genocide” perpetrated in 1959 and eventually culminated into the 1994’s final solution.

But my job as a producer is to protect the director. We are both survivors of genocide. Gilbert Ndahayo edits his own film. By editing here, I mean, we watch and listen to testimonies of survivors then come with the look (sequence) of the film. Sometimes, Gilbert is filming. Then, he films himself. In the end, he is sandwiched into the films he creates.

{{How does a producer protect a film director?}}

Gilbert had to go over and over the stories of killings of his parents, family members and friends. I am talking about months, seeing and listening to everything. I just couldn’t help but protecting him from going crazy. My feeling is, if he did not make the film, he would have died or something.
{{
How?}}

Honestly, killed by a film he would want to make. The film was frustrating him because as a filmmaker who is also a survivor of genocide, and watching events how they culminating into the complete wipe out of his families and friends and all one millions Tutsi people; things were not working on his psychology side.
Sometimes, Gilbert got angry when things didn’t turn out the right way. And I was always yelled at. It was too much work, under tight deadline and no money to help us. I did help to meet some of the deadline, so by doing that, his work became a little be easier.

{{What did you do apart from protecting the director being crazy?}}

Gilbert Ndahayo hates dealing with paperwork. I did secure the copyrights. I also worked with him on the English translation so that we could at least have a representation of the testimonies to reach our American audience. Additionally, I secured about 30% of money that partly funded the film. “The Rwandan Night” budget is estimated at $75,000.

{{Where did you get the money?}}

“The Rwandan Night” received a production grant from FRIENDS OF RWANDA, through Her Excellency Mathilde Mukantabana, the Rwandan Ambassador to the US in Washington. The money secured pretty much was spent on set in the state of California. Gilbert filmed in Silicon Valley and Sacramento. These are the only interviews we used in the film. We interviewed genocide scholars at California State University, Sacramento with a gathering of roughly 180 scholars around the world. Gilbert also filmed a debate on forgiveness around his previous film “Rwanda: Beyond The Deadly Pit” organized by the American Leadership Forum.

Gilbert used his own money to film himself in Switzerland, and that is the opening clip of the film. He is talking about his process as a filmmaker confronting the memories of genocide. “The Rwandan Night” did not receive any post-production fund. But, we were recipient of the 2013 Berlinale Talent Campus Doc Station, which allowed Gilbert to travel to Germany and learn more about crafting the documentary.
All these three years of making the film, we were in discussion with friendly genocide scholars, filmmakers and philosophers. These people contributed intellectually to the making of the film the way it is.

{{Some scholars are writing that “The Rwandan Night” is contradictory to Gilbert’s debut autobiography. What do you say to that?}}

Under what conditions are they basing their arguments? Do they want a debate? You see we make our personal story as Rwandans and what they want is debating. They have been debating even prior to genocide.

In my opinion, there is no contradiction, “Rwanda Beyond the Deadly Pit” brings in the theme of forgiveness and “The Rwandan Night” walks us into the chronology of genocide. The tough question to attend to is when genocide survivors question where God and the so-called United Nations were at the time of genocide. This question is portrayed in both films. But what about the reality of going back into the memory and making sense of it?

In the first decade after 1994, Rwanda was recovering, reconstructing itself and survivors had little faith in humanity. Gilbert’s film recollects their testimony of what they have seen, heard and done in 1994. Again, we both see the unfolding last stage of genocide, which is denial.

Gilbert and I shared the same feeling that if “The Rwandan Night” is not made, we would talk about the genocide and people would start to think that those things are just our nightmares and recommend some help or something like that. The genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda is not a product of our imagination. For his mother’s side, Gilbert lost fifty-two members in Bugesera and until now he is still counting those he had lost from his father side because none comes from one parent. At the count of two hundred, Gilbert told me that he had to stop. His heart was like a deserted land, and he could see dead bodies everywhere. In some moments, Gilbert wished he died with them. Fortunately, he survived. And he is telling the story. If you want to make a movie about life itself, there should be no fears of judgment. At least, that is what I have learnt from working with him.

{{What is the good news now that the film is completed? }}

We are in discussion to have the film translated into French, Italian and Spanish in order to access the European market. “The Rwandan Night” won the 2013 Silicon Valley African Film Festival Best Documentary Award and plans are on the way to premiere the film in twenty countries around the world in 2014.

On hall of fame, “The Rwandan Night” will always be known as the first Rwandan award-winning documentary that uses long monologue and famous songs of commemoration. Credits go to neo-traditionalist Mighty Popo in “Nibarize” (Tell Me), poetess Suzanne Nyiranyamibwa in “Ibuka” (Remember) and lyricist Aimable Twahirwa in “Humura” (Be Comfortable). We shot on Sony HD and Canon 6D. In post-production, we had a lot of work in transforming an engaging material in one format but at the same time contemplating the beauty of the image.

I am excited that “The Rwandan Night” is being released on DVD this Saturday, February 1, 2014. In America and Europe, schools can purchase a DVD/NTSC rated 16 for education purposes. We want to make Rwanda proud. February 1st is a Heroes Day in Rwanda. Gilbert is very picky on this day because by putting the film out there at that specific date, we are honoring our people who were killed during the genocide but most importantly the brave ones, the RPF soldiers, who stopped the genocide.

In April 2014, “The Rwandan Night” will be shown in two cities of Italy for the 20th commemoration events. In Italy, the official organizers of the 2014 commemoration events and are going to present the film in two cities. The evening screening of “The Rwandan Night” will be reiterated by the personal survival testimony of the filmmaker ever made public. Gilbert will talk about his journey back to Rwanda to attempt to rebury all the fifty-two of his immediate family members who were murdered in the 1994 genocide before confronting and giving forgiveness to the murderer of his father. It is the first time the world is going to hear the suffering and sorrow of Gilbert as he seek to reconstruct on camera the events that made him an orphan of genocide.

{Rwanda’s Economy is projected to grow by 7.2% in 2014, surpassing last year’s performance. This was revealed during the release of the fifth edition of Rwanda Economic Update report by World Bank. The main contributor of the projected growth will be capital and production supported by strong government reforms.}

In 2013 the economy grew by 5.9% and 5.7 % in the first and second quarters respectively, before registering a 6 % growth in the third quarter. The slow growth compares poorly with 7.7 per cent growth rate of 2012. The slow growth is attributed to aid shocks experienced in 2013.

According to the report, the main driver of growth in 2013 was exports while imports slightly reduced. The country also experienced a lower fiscal deficit than had been projected mainly due to strong tax collection and the Euro bond.

According to Kampeta Sayinzoga, the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to Treasury at the Ministry of Finance the slow economic growth during the third quarter of 2013 provide a strong case for the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2) to be fast-tracked.

“We are working hard to boost our reserves and build the capacity of the exports sector to raise the country’s foreign reserves,” Sayinzoga said.

Rwanda has shown a track record of good macro-economic management during the difficult periods such as economic crisis and aid suspensions. This was manifested by Sanghi Apurva, a World Bank economist who noted that “There is a more impressive performance of macroeconomic policy in Africa, especially Rwanda. We are confident that high income growth, strong fiscal buffers and increased capital formation will be a bright spot for Rwanda”.

He urged the country to position itself to tap into the opportunities emerging from the growing Chinese and European economies through export promotion and diversification.