Rwanda-BNT: Towards the elimination of non-tariff barriers

The Ministry of Trade and Industry in collaboration with the Rwanda Private Sector Federation (RPF) organized this Thursday, December 19, a high-level dialogue on non-tariff barriers (NTBs). This is with a view to seeing how to break these barriers and unleash Rwanda’s trade potential.

Non-tariff barriers (NTBs) continue to hamper Rwanda’s efforts to boost regional and international trade, according to Rwanda Private Sector Federation President Jeanne Francoise Mubiligi.

“These barriers create inefficiencies, increase costs and reduce the competitiveness of Rwandan traders in cross-border trade, which is why we strongly desire the removal of these non-tariff barriers,” she insisted.

The dialogue aims to involve the business community playing a role in regional and international trade. Prudence Sebahizi

Minister of Trade and Industry, Prudence Sebahizi, noted that Rwanda remains committed to removing barriers to trade. It also wants to foster an enabling environment for the private sector.

“This dialogue is an essential step towards establishing a transparent and competitive business ecosystem that stimulates growth and regional integration,” he said.

Minister Sebahizi added that the dialogue aims to engage the business community playing a role in regional and international trade to better understand the persistent NTBs they face and to foster practical and sustainable solutions.

The Minister of Trade and Industry noted that the elimination of non-tariff barriers is not done without constraints. It is, he said, a procedure involving the political decisions of countries.

This study identifies gaps in trade regulatory systems and various non-tariff barriers faced by traders.

“A non-tariff barrier is defined as the application of trade measures intended to limit imports and exports of a country, or even a continent. This practice results from a political decision whose reasons and motives vary according to different cases. It is therefore a procedure involving different negotiations,” explained Minister Prudence Sebahizi.

Participants in this dialogue had the opportunity to review and discuss the NTBs documented in the Trade Regulation Assessment Study commissioned by the Rwanda Boneza Ubucuruzi Activity (RBUA) project, as well as those reported by the private sector through the FSP and the National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC).

This study identifies gaps in trade regulatory systems and various non-tariff barriers faced by traders at national and East African Community (EAC) levels. It thus provides a fundamental evidence base for the revised strategy to address non-tariff barriers.

This dialogue is in line with Rwanda’s ongoing initiatives to implement its trade facilitation agenda.

As highlighted, this dialogue is aligned with Rwanda’s ongoing initiatives to implement its trade facilitation agenda and revise the national strategy for the elimination of non-tariff barriers for the period 2025-2030.

This high-level dialogue was organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MINICOM), in collaboration with the Private Sector Federation (FSP) and the Rwanda Boneza Ubucuruzi activity, with the technical and financial assistance of the American development agency USAID.

It brought together exporters, importers, transporters and government agencies concerned with the issue of elimination of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) in Rwanda.