Of late, Rwanda has continuously expressed interest in strengthening bilateral ties with the Caribbean region, drawing from the common history and development ambitions they share.
As seen on several occasions, President Paul Kagame championed the move of fostering and furthering Afro-Caribbean relations during a number of working visits he had in the countries including Barbados, Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago.
While there may be more to the interests, both regions share the spirit of creating economic and political resilience for the development of their people, given the fact that most of the Caribbean nations have a majority of population of African descendants.
This is linked to the era of slave trade whereby these islands were used as sales point of slaves to different countries as well as unpaid forced work in plantations on the islands, among other works.
In 2021, at the inaugural Africa-CARICOM Summit that brought together leaders from the Caribbean Community and the African continent to discuss trade and investment opportunities between Africa and the Caribbean, Kagame said that this was not only timely but long overdue.
Despite the geographical differences between the two regions, leaders emphasize the need to fast-track people-to-people exchanges, especially for youth and entrepreneurs under trade and investment cooperation.
Rwanda being a service-based economy with the tourism sector as the first largest income earner for the country, it has a lot to learn from the advanced Caribbean nations such as Barbados and Bahamas when it comes to hospitality and service delivery.
On the other hand, these countries can learn more about agriculture and technology adoption in creating a business enabling environment and digital transformation in public services, among others.
However, there is always room for growth on both ends as they both thrive on the path of development, hence the need to deepen cooperation.
What has been achieved thus far?
While Kagame was in Jamaica in April 2022, he addressed the Jamaican parliament and called on improvement to set direct cooperation between both countries.
From there, both governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Tourism, and another one on Political Consultation. However, more tangible results are yet to be registered from the ties.
In that same year, Kagame also visited Barbados, whereby both countries signed a bilateral air service agreement as well as sport development partnership.
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In related development, Rwandan business players are gearing up to explore and leverage trade and investment opportunities in Barbados in a business forum scheduled from August 3 to 8.
In November 2022, they also hosted their counterparts from Barbados to exchange knowledge and best-practice while increasing investments such as; tourism, sports development, air connectivity and logistics, digital and financial services, green investments among others.
Through Barbados, Rwanda expects to find an entry point into the Caribbean region through Barbados for exports from the agriculture and mining sectors among others.
Both countries enjoy a Double Tax Agreement that reduces cost of operations and increases attractiveness of opportunities. The treaty covers Barbados income tax and corporation tax, and covers Rwandan personal income tax, corporate income tax, and the tax on rent of immovable property.
The same positive enthusiasm can be seen from the recent President's trip to Bahamas, where he also emphasized on building bilateral relations with the touristic country, on the occasion of receiving the Order of Excellence marking his friendship with the country.
There is no doubt that building on the existing relations, Africa and the Caribbean region can advance south to south cooperation in the modern world where leaders from both regions continuously echo the need to address the issue of global inequality when it comes to matters of concern that in a way disproportionately affects the regions.
Africa is making strides in implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area, deemed the largest trade regime in the world with an expected combined GDP of $3.4 trillion, cementing such cooperation is equally important.
