Investing in CAR: Mining, building & farming sectors attract finance from Rwanda
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Transcript
00:00 The large property under construction near the Mara, an hour's drive from Bangui, belongs
00:04 to a Rwandan businessman. He owns a local supermarket chain and textile factories in
00:09 China. The businessman, a former minister, claims to own 40,000 hectares of land in the
00:15 Central African Republic. With no water or electricity, he cleared the land and imported
00:20 farming equipment from Germany, hoping to farm fruit in five years.
00:24 "Look, in the whole world, for the businessman, he's trying. I come here for the trying, maybe
00:31 I win, maybe I lose. That is the whole world."
00:40 The Central African government has allocated over 70,000 hectares to Rwandan entrepreneurs.
00:46 With Rwanda Air offering direct flights to Kigali, more than 700 businessmen have settled
00:51 in Bangui since 2021, some of whom are trying their luck in the construction sector.
00:57 The renovation of this basketball court is in the hands of a Rwandan entrepreneur who
01:02 won the tender by the Ministry of Sports.
01:04 "I will stay here because I have also many projects here. And from this one, I've seen
01:11 many opportunities."
01:12 "Maybe I think we are going to get another project here."
01:15 Following the 2019 bilateral military agreement, investment deals between Bangui and Kigali
01:21 have multiplied. For this minister, who is the architect of the partnership, the South-South
01:26 cooperation must be strengthened.
01:29 "Several economic agreements have been signed in both the mining and agricultural sectors.
01:35 And today, several Central African players have gone to invest in Rwanda, and other Rwandan
01:41 players have come to invest here in the Central African Republic. Now, the volume of investment
01:46 is estimated at around 250 million dollars."
01:50 Rwandan investors feel safe in Bangui as 1,200 Rwandan troops have been deployed to protect
01:58 civilians. Their mission is also to protect President Ouedera, along with his Russian
02:03 allies.
02:04 (splat)