Speaking to the participants at Rwanda Internet Governance Forum (IGF)2018, organized by RICTA Rwanda, today December 20, 2018, Minister Paula Ingabire highlighted some issues hampering the advancements of e-commerce in Rwanda and she called upon the Government partners to work together to make sure recommendations from the forum are effectively implemented.

Minister Paula INGABIRE listed some of realizations in e-Commerce in Rwanda and pointed out some challenges; such as low internet penetration and limited e-logistics facilities.

“I call upon all Government partners and different players to work together to make sure recommendations from this forum are effectively implemented so that when we meet next year, we would have recorded some achievements in the development of the sector.” Said Minister Paula IGABIRE.

Leonard Mungarulire: National Coordinator of e-commerce Project at ITC says that there is what to be happy with in e-commerce in Rwanda, though awareness, skills logistics remain as key challenges.

“E-commerce is already happening in Rwanda: we have champions in e-commerce so far. The Government has partnered with a number of collaborators and the objective is to bring e-commerce to many more SMEs and to empower them with skills. We are training 20 coaches and certifying them by the end of March 2019, we are also training over 150 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on how to trade online.” Spoke Leonard Mungarulire.

Some of recommendations made include: holding awareness campaign on e-commerce, building trust, compatibility of e-commerce platforms with different devices and profiting e-commerce services Centers availed by International Trade Centre (ITC).

The IGF 2018 themed “Accelerating Digital/Internet Economy through e-commerce in Rwanda”, is a forum for multi-stakeholder dialogue on public policy issues related to key elements of Internet governance issues, such as the Internet's sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development.

The purpose of the IGF is to maximize the opportunity for open and inclusive dialogue and the exchange of ideas on Internet governance (IG) related issues; create opportunities to share best practices and experiences; identify emerging issues and bring them to the attention of the relevant bodies and the general public; contribute to capacity building for Internet governance.