On 24th September 2014 the Rwandan delegation headed by His Excellency Ambassador Charles Murigande participated in the opening ceremony of the Specialty Coffee Association of Japan (SCAJ) Conference and Exhibition, which took place in Tokyo, Japan. Participants from Rwanda included a representative of NAEB, coffee exporters, and a farmers’ representative. Rwanda’s participation was organized by the Rwanda Embassy in Japan with support from the National Agriculture Exports Development Board.
This year’s SCAJ coffee conference and exhibition attracted many participants involved in coffee business especially importers, roasters, retailers, academicians, researchers, and equipment manufacturers. The event is taking place from 24th – 26th September 2014, and Rwanda was given an opportunity to be a Portrait Country at Exhibition Central Stage during the Opening Ceremony on 24th September 2014. The primetime at opening ceremony was used to highlight Rwanda’s resilience and economic achievements since the economic and social abyss created by the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
The event was also used to market Rwanda as a country and promote Rwandan Specialty Coffee to hundreds of participants in attendance.
The highlight of it was the launching of the new National Coffee Brand that represents Rwanda’s landscape, terrain, climate, natural coffee growing conditions, and symbolizes the freshness and quality of Rwandan coffee.
After the opening ceremony, Rwanda Embassy in Japan hosted a Coffee seminar for which about 60 coffee buyers and roasters attended. During the seminar there were presentations specific to our coffee sector by:
• Dr. Ndambe Nzaramba, Acting Chief Operations Officer of the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB).
• The Chairman of Coffee Exporters and Processors Association of Rwanda, also addressed the participants and he reiterated the importance of coffee in Rwanda’s economy.
• A coffee farmer, Mrs. Lucie Byukusenge, who is the President of the Coffee Farmers Association in Rusizi District.
The seminar climaxed with cupping and tasting some of the coffees that won the 2014 Rwanda Cup of Excellence (CoE) competitions. Seminar participants were encouraged to bid for the CoE coffees that will be auctioned on 1st October 2014. A total of twenty-eight (28) lots of about 1 metric ton each that won the Cup of excellence competitions will be auctioned through by Internet on that date. The highest bidder takes the coffee lot.
Japan is a lucrative market for specialty coffee and their coffee imports from Rwanda has been increasing in the past 5 years. Japanese buyers have consistently offered the highest prices in the previous Cup of excellence coffee auctions.
The participants at the opening ceremony were entertained with Rwandan cultural dance performed by Rwandan students in Malaysia.
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