Economic cooperation and development

Season 2, Episode 3

Duration: 60.08m

Special guests

Olivia Rubagumya, Head of Investor Relations, Rwanda Finance
Hortense Mudenge, Head of Strategy, Rwanda Finance
Tom Le Feuvre, Director Global Markets and International Agreements, Government of Jersey
Allan Wood, Global Head of Business Development, Jersey Finance

Summary

The Jersey/Rwanda relationship starts with the Jersey cow, but there is a lot more to this partnership as we explore in this podcast.

Following a private visit to Jersey in the early 2000s, Rwandan President Paul Kagame returned to the island in an official capacity in 2004 to explore the possibility of improving the dairy productivity of Rwanda’s native cow by crossbreeding with the Jersey.

This partnership has grown into a strong bilateral relationship formalised by the signing of a memorandum of understanding in May 2016.

In 2020 the partnership marks another milestone as Jersey Finance celebrates its 60th anniversary and Rwanda Finance launches the Kigali International Financial Centre (KIFC), which was due to take place at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali but has been postponed due to Covid-19.

This podcast details the history and development of the partnership while highlighting the exciting opportunities to come.

Tom Le Feuvre provides an overview of the Jersey and Rwanda partnership starting with the personal connection through Paul Kagame’s visit in 2000 and leading to today where multiple layers have been added to the partnership. He details the story of the partnership’s origin and how Jersey’s transformation from an agricultural economy to a thriving financial sector resonated with President Kagame’s vision for Rwanda.

Building from this, Tom discusses the different aspects of the partnership including MoUs, legal reforms and agreements, partnerships on conservation, tax transparency, regulatory and government-to-government dialogues, ending with points on the Kigali International Financial Centre.

Olivia Rubagumya provides an introduction to Rwanda Finance and an overview of the KIFC from her perspective in investor promotion. She explains that although the launch was intended for CHOGM, the initiative is operational. She details how Rwanda has modernised and demonstrated itself as a norms maker in the continent. Olivia also updates us on the legal and governance reforms facilitating this.

Hortense Mudenge provides an overview of the technical aspects of the KIFC, and relevant reforms and initiatives. She describes what we can expect from KIFC and what it can offer. She gives an overview of the Vision 2050 plan and how it plans to increase investment flows, from Asia and elsewhere, into the country and into the region. She details how double tax avoidance treaties will boost these investment flows and Rwanda’s role as a steward for the region.

Hortense explains how Rwanda Finance plans to support the country in achieving its ambitious goals for Vision 2050, and responds to the opinion of offshore centres being seen as inverted commercial “tax havens”. Hortense also describes how Rwanda intends to grow its financial sector from its small beginnings at the current time.

Allan Wood gives an overview of the Jersey Finance and Rwanda Finance partnership from the first delegation that was brought to Kigali to the current capacity building stage and the Rwanda Finance delegation’s visit to Jersey. He discusses how at Jersey Finance’s 60th anniversary it is great to be working with Rwanda Finance at its beginning and how Jersey has differentiated itself as a well-governed offshore centre.

Allan gives an overview of the technical assistance aspects of the partnership, and its focus on financial services and inward opportunities. He then looks at the long-term unique relationship that continues to build and gives details on the technical assistance to Rwanda. He also provides an overview of Jersey Finance’s other initiatives in Africa.