In collaboration with the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) and European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), FAO is implementing a project that promotes coordination between agriculture and trade policymaking processes in four Eastern and Southern African countries. Rwanda is one of the four countries, where an assessment was conducted to analyse the national structures, governance and coordination mechanisms between agriculture and trade. The assessment is the first step in the process of developing a coherent national policy framework on agricultural trade in order to better align sectoral interventions. 

The workshop was organized to validate the assessment findings and recommendations with national stakeholders and agree of the path forward to strengthen agriculture and trade policy coherence in Rwanda. The validation workshop was attended by a broad range of stakeholders which included: the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM), private sectors actors, research institutes, international organizations, and donor agencies.

The workshop participants validated and enriched the assessment recommendations with a list of priorities areas that require attention, which include:

  strengthen the implementation of the coordination mechanisms that are already in place;
  improve the technical capacities of both MINAGRI and MINICOM on agricultural trade policy issues;
  appoint a trade policy advocate in MINAGRI to strengthen capacity; 
  identify synergies and gaps in the new five-year agriculture and trade policies (Plan for the Strategic Transformation of Agriculture-PSTA IV and Private Sector Development Strategy-PSDS); and
  incorporate the private sector in the policymaking processes and implementation.