{On 13 October 2014 during the Grand Opening Ceremony for the 2014 World Investment Forum at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, four Investment Promotion Agencies were awarded for outstanding achievements in promoting sustainable development. }
The President of Switzerland, H.E. Didier Burkhalter, was invited to present the top Award to RDB. H.E. Dr. François-Xavier Ngarambe, Ambassador of Rwanda to Switzerland received the award on behalf of RDB.
The President of Switzerland presented the Award in following terms, “The agency receives the award for the policies and promotion practices that attracted an FDI project in a solar energy plant, which will generate up to 7% of the country’s electricity and create 200 jobs in rural communities”.
The other three awarded agencies are, the Investment Promotion Agencies from Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (photo).
Mr. James Zhan, the Director for Investment and Enterprise at UNCTAD justified the Awards as follows: “The agencies received the awards for their role in attracting and facilitating these projects and their efforts in magnifying their economic, social and environmental impact”.
UNCTAD informed that thirty-one projects had been qualified for the awards, with outstanding achievements in the areas of renewable energy, green manufacturing, waste treatment, electrical vehicles and green housing construction. Out of 31, only 10 were shortlisted and then the above 4 awarded.
The Award Ceremony was attended by key high personalities including the President of the Switzerland, H.E. Didier Burkhalter, Inter-Parliamentarian Union President, Abdelwahad Radi and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, Didier Drogba, United Nations Office in Geneva Acting Director-General Michael Møller, UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi, and the President of the Council of State of Geneva François Longchamp as well as many Ambassadors to the United Nations.
The family photo below symbolizes the partnership between the awarded agencies and policy makers at international level for the promotion of investment for sustainable development.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is a Geneva-based United Nations Branch in charge of trade and development as well as investment and enterprise development and was created in 1964 to help developing countries in the elaboration of innovative policies for poverty reduction and sustainable development. In this context, since 2006, UNCTAD has been working closely with RDB in the area of facilitating doing business with outstanding impact both for investors and the Rwandan Economy.
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