French investors in Rwanda to explore business opportunities

By: Collins Mwai

President Kagame received former French President Nicolas Sarkozy at Village Urugwiro yesterday. / Courtesy

Former French president Nicholas Sarkozy is currently in Rwanda with a group of French investors who are exploring investment opportunities in the country. The business mission is composed of investors from French multinational firm Bolloré, and they include executive Cyrille Bolloré.
Sarkozy began the two day visit with a courtesy call to President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro in Kigali. This was followed by a closed-door meeting with senior officials from the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), led by chief executive Clare Akamanzi, with a view to identify potential areas of investment.

Rwanda Development Board CEO Clare Akamanzi hands an investor's guide to former French President Nicholas Sarkozy at RDB headquarters in Kigali yesterday. / Courtesy

According to RDB, the two sides discussed investment opportunities in the country including in hospitality, transport, logistics, music, and conference tourism.
“In a fruitful meeting with RDB, the team, led by the former French president, discussed investment opportunities in hotels, transport, logistics, music and conference tourism,” the agency said in a tweet.

Bolloré Logistics is a world renowned transport and logistics firm with a presence in multiple countries, including Rwanda.
Sarkozy served as French president from 2007 to 2012 during which time he visited Rwanda – the only French leader to do so after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
During his visit to Rwanda as French president in February 2010, Sarkozy admitted his country’s “serious error of judgment” about the situation that prevailed in Rwanda in the lead up and during the Genocide which claimed the lives of more than a million people.
Following the end of the Genocide, which was stopped by the Rwanda Patriotic Army that was then under the leadership of President Kagame, Rwanda and France have mostly been at odds and evidence has been piling up about the latter’s culpability, further ramping up the pressure on Paris to admit its role in the Genocide and help bring to justice Genocide fugitives on its soil.
editorial@newtimes.co.rw