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German carmaker Volkswagen to build plant in Rwanda

Wednesday December 21 2016
VW

The logo of German car maker Volkswagen at a dealership in Virginia, US. Rwanda will become the second East African country to have the VW production palnt. FILE | AFP PHOTO

Rwanda and Volkswagen South Africa are set to sign a deal to assemble vehicles in Kigali.

The development will see the building of Rwanda’s first car production plant where the German automaker will assemble its Think Blue models.

This will be the second such deal in East Africa.

On Wednesday, President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Volkswagen Polo Vivo fully-assembled in Kenya following a deal signed in September this year that allowed the carmaker to use the Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers (KVM) facility in Thika.

READ: German carmaker VW to begin assembling cars in Kenya

While details on costs and timeline were not readily available by press time, the deal with Rwanda will potentially lead to job creation, skills transfer and a boost to the economy through exports to the region.

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“The Government of Rwanda and Volkswagen will (Wednesday evening) sign a memorandum of understanding to develop a new concept of innovative integrated automotive mobility and thereafter build the production facility based on VW’s Think Blue cars,” the Rwanda Development Bank said in a statement.

The Volkswagen South Africa CEO Thomas Schaefer will be in Kigali to ink the deal along with Herbert Diess, the Volkswagen brand chief. Rwanda Development Board chief executive Francis Gatare is expected to sign the MoU on behalf of the government.

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