Rwanda’s biggest commercial lender Bank of Kigali and Ant Group, a major financial services technology provider of China, launched the Rwanda to China instant remittance service Thursday in Kigali, the capital city.

The service, under the initiative of inclusive finance as defined within a cooperation framework of the electronic world trading platform (eWTP), is expected to boost business between the two countries.

The service enables senders in Rwanda to remit fund from their account with the Bank of Kigali to the recipient’s Alipay account in China and receive in yuan, the Chinese currency, aiming to bring more convenience and efficiency to SME businesses and Chinese in Rwanda through digital technologies.

"The new service will facilitate people to remit funds from Rwanda to China at a fraction of the usual cost. This is only the beginning as we look forward to working more to facilitate trade and investment between Rwanda and China," Diane Karusisi, the chief executive officer of the Bank of Kigali said at the event.

Clare Akamanzi, the chief executive officer of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), said the launch was a result of strong relations between Rwanda and China which she described as "cordial, fruitful and productive."

Wang Jiaxin, the Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Rwanda, said there is great potential to launch digital cooperation between the two countries as China has a large digital economy worth 6 trillion U.S. dollars.

The Rwandan government and Alibaba Group, in 2018 launched the first eWTP hub in Africa aiming to promote trade and tourism between the two countries.

Akamanzi said the eWTP has been a beneficial program for building business relationships with China.

"At least 60 Rwandans have obtained degrees in E-commerce through the program. This is in addition to the export of coffee and chilli and the selling of tourism products," she said.

AE News