Rwanda (/ruˈɑːndə, -ˈæn-/ (About this soundlisten); Kinyarwanda: U Rwanda [u.ɾɡwaː.nda] (About this soundlisten)), officially the Republic of Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: Repubulika y'u Rwanda; Swahili: Jamhuri ya Rwanda; French: République du Rwanda), is a country in Central and East Africa and one of the smallest countries on the African mainland. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rwanda is in the African Great Lakes region and is highly elevated; its geography is dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year.

The population is young and predominantly rural, with a density among the highest in Africa. Rwandans are drawn from just one cultural and linguistic group, the Banyarwanda, although within this group there are three subgroups: the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The Twa are a forest-dwelling pygmy people descended from Rwanda's earliest inhabitants. Scholars disagree on the origins of and differences between the Hutu and Tutsi; some believe differences are derived from former social castes within a single people, while others believe the Hutu and Tutsi arrived in the country separately, and from different locations. Christianity is the largest religion in the country; the principal language is Kinyarwanda, spoken by most Rwandans, with English and French serving as additional official languages. The sovereign state of Rwanda has a presidential system of government. The president is Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), who took office in 2000. Rwanda today has low corruption compared with neighbouring countries, although human rights organisations report suppression of opposition groups, intimidation and restrictions on freedom of speech. The country has been governed by a strict administrative hierarchy since precolonial times; there are five provinces delineated by borders drawn in 2006. Rwanda is one of only two countries with a female majority in the national parliament.

Hunter gatherers settled the territory in the stone and iron ages, followed later by Bantu peoples. The population coalesced first into clans and then into kingdoms. The Kingdom of Rwanda dominated from the mid-eighteenth century, with the Tutsi kings conquering others militarily, centralising power and later enacting anti-Hutu policies. Germany colonised Rwanda in 1884 as part of German East Africa, followed by Belgium, which invaded in 1916 during World War I. Both European nations ruled through the kings and perpetuated a pro-Tutsi policy. The Hutu population revolted in 1959. They massacred numerous Tutsi and ultimately established an independent, Hutu-dominated state in 1962. A 1973 military coup saw a change of leadership, but pro-Hutu policy remained. The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front launched a civil war in 1990. The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, both Hutus, died together when their plane was shot down in April 1994. Social tensions erupted in the 1994 genocide, in which Hutu extremists killed an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu. The RPF ended the genocide with a military victory.

Rwanda's economy suffered heavily in wake of the 1994 genocide, but has since strengthened. The economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture. Coffee and tea are the major cash crops for export. Tourism is a fast-growing sector and is now the country's leading foreign exchange earner. Rwanda is one of only two countries in which mountain gorillas can be visited safely, and visitors pay high prices for gorilla tracking permits. Music and dance are an integral part of Rwandan culture, particularly drums and the highly choreographed intore dance. Traditional arts and crafts are produced throughout the country, including imigongo, a unique cow dung art.

sholatech:
When is the investment forum?

Rwanda has improved 11 places in the annual series of World Bank’s Doing Business Report, ranking 29th globally from the 41st the previous year. The country retained its second position in Africa.

The report, released Wednesday, attributes the impressive score to improvements in Rwanda’s business regulatory environment captured in the various reforms the country undertook.

According to the World Bank report which ranked 190 countries against their level of business friendliness, Rwanda has the largest number of reforms approved in the Africa region.

“Having such a large leap is just an indicator of how serious you have taken this,” Yasser El- Gammal, the Word Bank Group Country Manager in Rwanda, told a group of senior government officials in Kigali yesterday.

These are the key highlights

from the report

1.Rwanda is the 29th in the ease of doing business in the world. In Africa, the country is second behind Mauritius, which has also maintained its position for the second consecutive year.

2.Rwanda has scored the second position globally after New Zealand when it comes to the aspect of registering property. It is one of the 10 indicators that WB measures.

It was attributed to the fact that the country improved on its land dispute resolution mechanisms. It now takes only 7 days to transfer property and costs only 0.1 per cent of the property value, the same as in New Zealand.

3.Rwanda featured as one of the 10 economies showing the most notable improvements in the report. It is among the four of the top Africa’s economies that have improved significantly. These are Togo, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, and Rwanda.

Over the past 12 months, collectively these economies implemented a total of 23 reforms.

4.Rwanda’s ease of doing business score improved from 73.73 in the 2018 report to 77.88 in this year’s index. This means that in the last year Rwanda has improved its business regulations as captured by the report indicators in absolute terms.

The report says the country is narrowing the gap with the global regulatory best practice.

5.Rwanda implemented the largest number of reforms. In 2017/2018, the country implemented seven new reforms that improved business regulatory framework. These are the second highest number of reforms the country has undertaken since the launch of the reports.

Generally, economies in Sub Saharan Africa set a new record for a third consecutive year, carrying out 107 reforms in the past year to improve the ease of doing business for domestic, small and medium enterprises

In Africa, much of the reform activity in the past year focused on improvements in the area of Enforcing Contracts, with the region’s 27 reforms accounting for more than half of the reforms recorded in that area globally.

Rwanda particularly issued new rules of civil procedures which limit adjournments to unforeseen and exceptional circumstances.

6.Some of the continent’s economies perform best in the areas of Getting Credit and Starting a Business, with four economies – Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia – ranked among the world’s top 10 in Getting Credit ranking.

Rwanda got 3rd place on the aspect of access to credit. This is because the country enacted a new insolvency law.

Claver Gatete, the Minister for Infrastructure, said the reforms that the country has been implementing have translated into tangible results for businesses operating in Rwanda.

“For instance, in the past, following the introduction of the electronic online registration, domestic business registration have increased from 418 in 2008 to now 13,394 in 2017,” he noted.

The minister also highlighted that the cost of starting a business in Rwanda has reduced from 317 per cent of GDP per capita in 2005 to less than 15 per cent in 2018.

zynzyn:
Rwanda Beautiful Buildings!

Predstan:


Lol Beautiful Buildings indeed. How many of such Buildings do you have there? Infact this is the National Conference Centre, a hall

Anyway. Can I get a flier to read about what you offer and how to invest. I have been looking for such information since I traveled to Rwanda.

zynzyn:


Please call

zynzyn:
29th in the Whole World in ease of doing business!

zynzyn:
"In the past 10 months , My firm and I , have led groups of entrepreneurs and investors to Rwanda to start businesses. It is our passion to see that Nigerians and other Africans explore business and investment opportunities that are abound in Africa".

Words of the President