22 countries, over 300 exhibitors and a sea of products - that is what is on show at the 16th edition of the Rwanda international trade fair.

The trade fair was officially flagged off on Thursday afternoon and will last for fourteen days. They will be fourteen days of interaction, business networking and shopping by the revelers.

Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, who opened the fair officially, said it was a major opportunity for Rwanda to showcase its potential to the rest of the world, adding that it was his hope that visiting exhibitors identify investment opportunities in the country.

The Prime Minister's notes echoed the exhibition theme which is 'Linking Businesses to Markets.'

Over two hundred Rwandan exhibitors are taking part in this year's expo, and Habumuremyi challenged them to learn from their foreign counterparts to improve their own competitiveness.

Officials from Comesa and of the East African Business Council (EABC) have backed this year's expo and one of the biggest landmarks is the successful launch of the Comesa manufacturers' dialogue which brought together stake holders from the EAC and the Comesa to discuss key bottlenecks to trade.

PSF CEO Hannington Namara explained that a working committee was created from the two-day dialogue that will coordinate efforts to implement all decisions made during the dialogue. Trade Minister Francois Kanimba challenged participants in the dialogue to work for tangible results to cause positive change for the benefit of all economies in the two blocks.

"Because if we can't trade among ourselves, then we shouldn't think of trading with Europe or Asia," Kanimba observed.

Top on the agenda is to open routes linking the 19 countries of the Comesa with roads, railway links and air transport to facilitate traders to access over 440 million markets.

The over 50 Comesa firms taking part in this year's expo will have the opportunity of showing off their activities to about 20, 000 people per day and over 100,000 people in a week.

Mathews Chikhankeni, the Comesa business council chairman, said that while trade among member countries is still low, it is high time to turn around the situation. "It's true we have a hill to climb but if critics say we are at the bottom then we should be encouraged because we can only rise higher," he remarked.

Trade between Comesa countries and the rest of the world grew from $240 billion in 2011 to $262 billion in 2012, and experts say this volume should be retained within the region and help grow sustainable economies, create jobs and reduce poverty levels.

PSF chairman Benjamin Gasamagera said that to achieve this, public-private partnerships should be strengthened in order to foster rapid private sector growth.