{{The Star}}-{Kenyan business leaders will soon start having structured round-table meetings with Rwandan President Paul Kagame to discuss policy matters that will improve the region’s business environment.}
Kagame, who was hosted by the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry for a breakfast meeting in Nairobi on Friday, said relevant agencies should formalise structures to enable regular meetings.
“I am totally agreeable and I accept the issue of having regular meetings with you [business leaders],” he said in response to a request by a section of industry captains.
“Formalisation is important because your participation is very important in this [East African Community’s] integration process and people concerned should look at how we can structure it.”
Kagame did not indicate the frequency of the meetings in a year, although proponents fronted a bi-annual time table similar to the one President Kenyatta has with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance.
Most business people at the 90-minute meeting said they consider Rwanda an internal economy, just like Kenya, in the spirit of EAC integration.
Growth-focused Kenyan companies are rapidly expanding into Rwanda which, though a much smaller economy, has in the recent years enjoyed a higher and more stable economic expansion amid a better business climate.
Sectors such as services, retail and education are some of the most attractive to Kenyan firms in Rwanda.
Some of corporates with presence in Kigali include KCB, East African Breweries, Equity, Nation Media, Nakumatt Holdings, JKUAT and Mount Kenya University.
“We have to create strong institutions that create systems where everyone is involved in execution of the integration agenda so we see how does each side fulfill its mandate and have expectations met,” Kagame said.
“We don’t need a strong man, we need strong institutions. But if they are going to work, they must have strong people.”
KNCCI chair Kiprono Kittony said the presidential offer will be taken up through Rwanda’s chamber of commerce.
“We will certainly do what we can to make sure this becomes a reality,” he said.
Kittony said Kagame’s offer came at a time when the chamber has embarked on high-level quarterly meetings with top government officials and global business leaders from various countries.
Friday’s meeting with Kagame, he said, followed that with Deputy President William Ruto last November.
“We are collaborating with (KNCCI) patron members in this initiative who are the chiefs of biggest corporates whom we are using as think-tanks to give advisory services on policy to governments,” Kittony said.
Talks are at advanced stage to bring in South Africa’s deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa in next quarter and Africa’s multi-billionaire businessman Tony Elumelu from Nigeria in the third quarter
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