Moscow will remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations, Zamir Kabulov, Russia's presidential envoy to Afghanistan, told journalists on Friday. The change was also confirmed by Aleksandr Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), which is responsible for combating terrorist threats.
Russia was among the first nations to establish contacts with the Taliban after it seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. Russia has not formally recognized the group as the governing force in the country, however.
The group took power in Kabul during the last stage of the hectic withdrawal of US troops, which ended the 20-year Western occupation of Afghanistan. The Washington-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, as did many citizens who helped the Americans.
In May, Kabulov described the Taliban as 'definitely not our enemies.' Speaking to reporters on Friday, the senior diplomat stated that the Russian Foreign Ministry and the FSB are working with other government agencies to formalize the Taliban's removal from the national terrorist list
'A fundamental decision on this issue has already been made by the Russian leadership,' he said, adding that all legal procedures need to be allowed. It would require 'scrupulous work by the lawyers, the parliament and other state agencies,' Kabulov said. He expressed hope that 'the final decision will be announced in the nearest future.'
The FSB chief said on Friday that Moscow is finalizing the removal of the Taliban from the blacklist. According to Bortnikov, the move would pave the way for 'pragmatic cooperation' with the group, including the fight against organized crime and ISIS-K, a regional offshoot of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).
ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Russia this year, including the storming of a music venue outside Moscow in March which left 145 people dead.
Russia blacklisted the Taliban in 2003. The authorities said at the time that the group was linked with an Islamist insurgency in the northern Caucasus and was responsible for the hijacking of a Russian civilian aircraft in 1995.
Moscow's attitude towards the group began to change after the insurgents were largely defeated at home. The shift was further bolstered by the rise of IS in the mid-2010s.
President Vladimir Putin said in July that the Taliban was de facto controlling Afghanistan. 'In this sense, the Talibs are our allies in the fight against terrorism,' Putin stated, adding that Moscow received a 'certain signal' that the group was ready for cooperation.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in June that Russia would not recognize the Taliban government until it fulfills several conditions, including a commitment to fighting the drug trade and terrorism, and 'the respect for basic rights of all nations of Afghanistan.'
Ships and fighter jets of the US Central Command have bombarded more than a dozen sites in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the port of Hodeidah.
The Houthis are a Shia group styling themselves as the Yemeni government and who control the northwest of the country. They have been interdicting Israeli and Western shipping in the Red Sea for almost a year, to pressure Israel to stop attacking Gaza.
According to the US military, the strikes targeted 15 Houthi targets on Friday afternoon, going after 'offensive military capabilities' in order to 'protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US, coalition, and merchant vessels.'
Prior to the official statement from CENTCOM, unnamed US officials told AP that the strikes had taken place against 'weapons systems, bases and other equipment' at five locations.
According to Yemeni media, there were seven strikes at the Hodeidah airport and the military base at Katheib. Two explosions were reported in Dhamar province, and three in Bayda province, southeast of Sanaa. Four more strikes targeted the capital itself.
Friday's bombing was the first US operation against the Houthis since June. Israeli jets struck Hodeidah last week, after the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Israel.
The Yemeni group has fired missiles or drones at more than 80 merchant ships since last October, when Israel declared war on Hamas in Gaza, following a series of deadly raids by the Palestinian group into Israeli territory. Initially, the Houthis targeted just vessels 'linked to' Israel but expanded their interdictions to US and UK vessels after the Anglo-American airstrikes in January.
Washington sent several warships into the region as part of 'Operation Prosperity Guardian,' an effort to keep the Bab el-Mandeb Strait open. The US Navy has not been able to deter the Houthis, however, causing most Western shipping companies to avoid the Suez Canal and route their vessels around Africa instead.
Over the weekend, the Houthis released a video of one of their sea drones striking the Panamanian-flagged tanker Cordelia Moon in the Red Sea. The Houthis have shot down nearly a dozen US surveillance and strike drones. They have also fired on US warships multiple times. CENTCOM maintains that all of the incoming missiles and drones have been successfully intercepted.
The US has accused the Houthis of being a proxy of Iran, which the group has denied. Earlier this week, Iran launched a massive missile barrage at Israel, in retaliation for the recent killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, as well as a senior general of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Lebanon.
A beluga whale that the Western media once half-seriously branded a 'Russian spy' likely died of an infection, Norwegian police have announced, ruling out initial suspicions that the celebrity animal had been shot.
The sea mammal, nicknamed Hvaldimir, was found dead in Risavika Bay in southern Norway in late August. The animal rights groups OneWhale and NOAH then filed a complaint with Norwegian police, arguing that multiple circular holes in the whale's body indicated that shots had been fired at it.
However, an autopsy carried out by the Norwegian Veterinary Institute suggested that no foul play was involved in Hvaldimir's demise, police said on Friday.
The cetacean likely passed away due to a bacterial infection, which developed in a wound caused by a stick that got stuck in the creature's mouth, Amund Preede Revheim, who heads the North Sea and Environment Section of the police in south-west Norway, said.
As for the circular holes, they were likely made by the birds that consumed the whale's carcasses, he explained.
'As there is nothing in the investigations to indicate that Hvaldimir was killed in an illegal manner, the police see no reason to start a probe into the whale's death,'Â the officer said. The complaint by the activists has been dropped, he added.
Revheim also complained that it was 'difficult' for the Norwegian Veterinary Institute to carry out the autopsy because 'many of the whale's organs were very rotten.'
The celebrity white beluga whale was first spotted off the coast in Norway's far-northern Finnmark region back in 2019. At the time of its discovery, the animal allegedly wore an action camera harness labeled 'Equipment St. Petersburg.' This fact led to wild speculation in the Western media that the sea creature was actually a 'Russian spy whale' on a mission. Some, however, suggested the animal was actually a trained 'therapy whale' that had somehow escaped its enclosure.
The whale was nicknamed 'Hvaldimir' â” a play on the Norwegian word for whale (hval) and the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The marine mammal was known for being friendly to humans and was often seen approaching boats and interacting with those aboard.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the use of the first diagnostic test for mpox that will provide immediate results. This will increase testing capabilities in countries facing outbreaks, it says.
The WHO announced on Friday that it had approved the 'real-time PCR test', Alinity m MPXV assay, which enables the detection of the virus by testing swabs of skin lesions.
Currently, patients have to wait days for results. This test will help health workers confirm suspected cases more 'efficiently', the WHO said.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the epicentre of the current outbreak, only 37 percent of suspected cases have been tested this year, the United Nations health agency noted.
This test's approval 'will be pivotal in expanding diagnostic capacity in countries facing mpox outbreaks, where the need for quick and accurate testing has risen sharply,' it added in a statement.
Mpox, which is transmitted by human-to-human contact and contact with infected animals, has been detected in 16 African countries this year.
According to the African Union's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 800 people across the continent have died from the disease, which causes fever, aches and skin lesions.
'By detecting DNA from pustular or vesicular rash samples, laboratory and health workers can confirm suspected mpox cases efficiently and effectively,' the WHO said.
'Limited testing capacity and delays in confirming mpox cases persist in Africa, contributing to the continued spread of the virus,' it added.
'Protecting people in underserved regions'
'This first mpox diagnostic test listed under the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) procedure represents a significant milestone in expanding testing availability in affected countries,' said Yukiko Nakatani, the WHO's assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products.
The agency said it was evaluating three new mpox diagnostic tests for emergency use and was also in discussions with other manufacturers to expand the availability of mpox diagnostic tools.
In August, after the WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, it asked manufacturers to submit their products for an emergency review.
The EUL procedure is a risk-based assessment of unlicensed vaccines, tests and treatments to expedite their availability during public health emergencies.
Nakatani explained that the approval of the test increases 'access to quality-assured medical products' and 'is central to our efforts in assisting countries to contain the spread of the virus and protect their people, especially in underserved regions'.
The latest mpox outbreak began in the DRC and later spread to neighbouring countries, including Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda.
So far, two strains of the virus are spreading: the clade 1 variant, which is endemic in parts of West and Central Africa, and clade 1b, a new, more infectious variant that has triggered international concern.
India, Thailand and Sweden have all reported cases of the clade 1b variant of mpox.
Russia has captured Vuhledar on the Donetsk-Zaporizhia border this week after battling for the town for 18 months.
Vuhledar sits on elevated ground near a railway line that brings in supplies from Russian-occupied Crimea. Its occupation deprives Ukrainian forces of a way to interrupt Russian supply lines.
It also gives Russia control of the adjacent H-15 highway, which may help it to 'eliminate the wide Ukrainian salient in western Donetsk Oblast,' said the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.
Ukraine pushed Russian positions back in a crescent-shaped area by as much as 7.5km (5 miles) during a counteroffensive last year. That gain may now be imperilled. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii ordered defences strengthened in Donetsk after the loss of Vuhledar.
'The Russian seizure of Vuhledar will not on its own radically change the operational situation in western Donetsk Oblast, however, and Russian forces will likely struggle to achieve their operational objectives,' said the ISW.
(Al Jazeera)
Russia has struggled to make concrete gains all along the eastern front.
Since February, when it captured Avdiivka, it has pushed 35km (22 miles) west towards Pokrovsk, but Syrskii said Ukraine's counter-invasion of Kursk in August has put a stop to that advance 10km (6 miles) shy of Pokrovsk.
About 50km (30 miles) northeast of the Pokrovsk frontline, Russian forces have been gunning for the town of Chasiv Yar all summer but have only managed to occupy an outlying eastern section so far.
A further 40km (25 miles) northeast of Chasiv Yar, Russian forces have been trying to seize Siversk without luck.
About 100km (62 miles) north of Siversk, in Kharkiv, Russia mounted a battalion-sized assault on September 26 in the direction of Kupyansk with 50 armoured vehicles and tanks. Ukraine repelled it, damaging or destroying 40 of the vehicles.
(Al Jazeera)
While Ukrainian defences have largely held in the face of superior Russian firepower, Russian forces have inched forward all along the front this year, capturing more than 800 sq km (310 miles) of territory.
But these tactical victories have come at enormous cost.
Ukraine's armed forces on Sunday said 9,290 Russian troops had been killed or wounded in the week of September 22-29, an average of more than 1,300 a day, which has been typical for most of the year. Russia also lost 101 tanks and 254 armoured fighting vehicles, Ukraine said.
'Russian forces do not have the available manpower and materiel to continue intensified offensive efforts indefinitely,' said the ISW.
A resident walks near buildings damaged by a Russian military strike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the front line city of Vuhledar [Alex Babenko/Reuters]
Developing Ukraine's defence industry
Ukraine said it had eroded Russia's enormous firepower advantage this year, and suggested it was also putting pressure on Russian manpower reserves.
'To date, the ratio of the use of artillery ammunition on the battlefield has decreased compared to the winter of 2024,' Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Ivan Havryliuk told a telethon on Tuesday. 'Then the ratio was 1 to 8. Today it is 1 to 3.'
That aligned with statements from commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month, that Russia was firing 2.5 artillery shells to Ukraine's one.
(Al Jazeera)
None of the officials fully explained why this was happening.
Zelenskyy attributed it to Ukraine's counter-invasion of the Russian region of Kursk on August 6.
There could be other reasons. Ukraine suffered shell shortages in the winter of 2023-2024 as US House Republicans stalled vital military aid for six months. That aid began to flow again in May, and US President Joe Biden on September 26 said he would see it spent before year's end.
'I have directed the Department of Defense to allocate all of its remaining security assistance funding that has been appropriated for Ukraine by the end of my term in office,' he told reporters during a visit to the White House by Zelenskyy.
That would include $5.5bn in drawdown authorities from existing stockpiles and $2.4bn under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which commissions new weapons.
Ukraine's defence industry plays a role.
Kyiv started producing its own 155mm shells domestically this year, and last week Ukraine's strategic industries minister Herman Smetanin said Ukraine will this year produce more artillery pieces than any other country in the world.
Ukraine's defence industrial base had grown threefold last year, and twice over again in the first eight months of this year, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a forum for defence industries in Kyiv on Wednesday.
A fourth factor in evening out the artillery ratio could be the rate at which Ukraine is destroying Russian ammunition and artillery.
Ukraine has had considerable success in destroying Russian logistics facilities and ammunition depots this year using its domestically produced drones. Strikes on two facilities in Tver and Krasnodar Krai regions in Russia two weeks ago destroyed an estimated 32,000 tonnes of munitions.
(Al Jazeera)
On Sunday, Ukraine's general staff claimed to have struck another ammunition depot at Kotluban, in Volgrograd, though NASA satellite photography suggested the detonations took place outside the facility.
Ukrainian officials also suggested Russia was showing signs of manpower shortages.
Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told a telethon on Tuesday that Russian sailors were spotted serving in the infantry.
'This can only indicate a serious degradation and a serious shortage of personnel,' he said, 'because specialists who belong to the ship's crew need quite a long time for training.'
Ukraine's allies announced new military aid packages, and increasingly those were taking the form not of handouts but of military-industrial collaborations.
Ukraine and Denmark on Sunday signed a defence cooperation agreement that features a new financing model. Denmark will contribute 175 million euros ($190m) towards Ukraine's domestic arms industry, which will attract another 400 million euros ($440m) from the profits of frozen Russian state assets. The money is to develop Ukrainian attack UAVs, antitank mines and missiles.
On Tuesday Franco-German defence group KNDS announced it had opened a Kyiv subsidiary to repair and maintain Leopard tanks, Cesar guns, Gepard guns, PzH 2000 armoured howitzers and other systems.
In-country maintenance is meant to reduce turnaround times and increase available vehicles for combat operations. The company will also jointly manufacture 155mm artillery with Ukrainian industry.
Finally, the Netherlands on Saturday delivered its first eight F-16s to Ukraine, which has also received six of the aircraft from Denmark, one of which was lost in combat. Ukraine has said it needs at least 130 aircraft.
(Al Jazeera)
Ukraine is inviting more investment from its Western partners.
It has spent $4bn on purchases from its defence industry this year, said Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. Prime Minister Shmyhal said the budget for domestic weapons purchases would rise to $7bn next year.
One area where Ukraine has a clear advantage in both production and tactical expertise over Russia is in the use of unmanned systems. Ukraine has already produced 1.5 million drones of various types this year and aims to produce two million, compared with Russia's plan to produce 1.4 million, said Zelenskyy this week. Ukraine has the capacity to produce four million drones per year, he said.
Ukraine has also used small drones partly to make up for its artillery deficit, to precision-drop grenades and other small munitions on Russian positions. On Wednesday, the 2nd Mechanised Battalion of the Presidential Brigade unveiled the TG-90, a heavy 2kg bomb delivered by drone inside buildings.
But Russia is relentlessly investing in its own defence industrial base as well.
On Tuesday the Duma received its draft 2025 federal budget, allocating 13.5 trillion rubles ($141.7bn) to defence and another 3.5 trillion rubles ($36.8bn) for national security, meaning 41 percent of the Russian budget is committed to defence and security next year. Health, education and other social programmes accounted for less than $70bn.
According to some observers, the vast resources Russia is allocating to its war in Ukraine do not appear to be translating into progress on the ground.
In a series of posts on X, Muhoozi issued the ambassador an ultimatum to apologize to the Ugandan Head of State for his 'undiplomatic behavior' by Monday or face expulsion from Uganda.
'If this current US ambassador does not apologize to Mzee personally by Monday morning (9:00 AM) for his undiplomatic behaviour in our country, we will demand that he leaves Uganda,' Muhoozi wrote.
He, however, emphasized that Ugandan authorities are not at odds with the U.S., but with the envoy.
'We have no problem with the USA; as I have said many times, it is a country we love and admire. But lately, we have a lot of evidence that they have been working against the NRM government,' he added.
In another post, he expressed his contempt for the ambassador, saying, 'Fellow Ugandans, it is my solemn duty to announce to you all that we as a nation are about to have a serious confrontation with the current US ambassador to our country, for disrespecting our beloved and celebrated President and for undermining the constitution of Uganda.'
Gen. Muhoozi’s outburst is seen as an escalation of tensions between the Ugandan leadership and the U.S., following recent sanctions imposed by the U.S. against four officers in the Ugandan Police Force (UPF) for alleged human rights violations, including torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and punishment.
In the sanctions announced on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, the U.S. Department of State identified the sanctioned officials as Bob Kagarura, former Wamala Regional Police Commander, and Alex Mwine, former District Police Commander for Mitanya District.
Others include Elly Womanya, who at the time of the alleged violations was Senior Commissioner and Deputy Director of UPF’s Criminal Investigations Division in charge of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), and Hamdani Twesigye, previously Deputy Inspector of Police assigned to the SIU.
The U.S. had previously imposed travel sanctions against several high-profile Ugandan officials, including Deputy Chief of the Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Peter Elwelu, Parliament Speaker Anita Annette Among, and Minister Amos Lugoloobi, along with their families.
Uganda’s military chief and President Yoweri Museveni’s son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, is now threatening to kick out the United States Ambassador William W. Popp over what he describes as undermining the government.
Before Rwanda confirmed its first-ever Marburg virus outbreak, two initial cases were treated for malaria instead of the infectious haemorrhagic disease.
The Ministry of Health officially confirmed Marburg virus disease in Rwanda on Friday, September 27. In the days before that announcement, the two patients had arrived at an unidentified hospital seeking treatment for their deteriorating health.
Their symptoms resembled those of malaria, a factor that compelled the medics to test them for the disease and prescribe medication.
After days of treatment, their condition deteriorated rather than improving. This raised concerns among the medics who were attending to them, compelling them to report the situation to Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC).
'Our surveillance in the hospital that was attending to the first suspected cases raised the alarm, saying 'we are seeing two patients who are not responding to usual treatment,'' said health minister Dr Sabin Nsanzimana explained during a press briefing on Thursday, October 3.
Dr Nsanzimana noted that the medics had initially suspected that the patients had malaria since the Marburg virus symptoms are similar to those of malaria. These are for example high fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pain, fatigue and later on gastro-intestinal nausea and vomiting.
What added to the confusion, he said, was that some malaria tests carried out on the patients had returned positive, which suggests that there was a co-infection of Marburg virus and malaria.
The first patient's condition was deteriorating rapidly, prompting RBC and the National Reference Laboratory to step in for further examination.
Blood samples were taken and tested using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at the National Reference Laboratory.
The results confirmed the presence of the Marburg virus.
In response, health officials quickly initiated contact tracing, particularly among healthcare workers, taking into account key epidemiological cues, including the fact that Marburg virus symptoms appear between two to 21 days after exposure.
'We went back to trace the contacts,' Dr. Nsanzimana said.
Over 400 contacts have been identified since and they are being monitored. PCR tests remain the definitive method for diagnosis.
Health authorities are still investigating the origin of the outbreak but have not yet determined its source. Minister Nsanzimana said that the index patient has not been identified.
More than 1,000 tests have been conducted so far.
As of October 3, a total of 37 cases had been confirmed and 11 deaths reported. The cases were spread across seven of the country's 30 districts. Around 80 percent of the confirmed cases are healthcare workers.
In West and Central Africa, floods have reached catastrophic levels, with Chad, Niger and Nigeria among the hardest hit accounting for more than 80 percent of people affected, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
More than 1,000 people have been killed, and at least 740,000 people have been displaced, the office said. In addition, hundreds of thousands of homes, more than 100 schools, and dozens of health facilities have been damaged. Nearly 500,000 acres of farmland has been affected.
OCHA said that without sufficient support, the floods threaten to hinder the reopening of schools, with the new school year set to begin this month. The floods could also aggravate existing food insecurity, particularly in Chad and Niger.
“The precarious living conditions of people affected by the floods also increase the risk of waterborne diseases, such as cholera, which is spreading in many regions of Niger and Nigeria,” OCHA said.
The office said humanitarian partners are mobilized and supporting the response, including food and health assistance, but efforts are limited due to financial resources.
Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya has allocated 35 million U.S. dollars from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund for flood relief in Chad, Niger, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Congo. “But more money is needed,” OCHA said.
Meanwhile, Msuya has allocated 5 million dollars from the Central Emergency Response Fund to scale up the response to floods in the states of Borno and Bauchi in the northeast and Sokoto in the northwest, Nigeria.
The new funds will help humanitarian partners reach 280,000 people in the three states with food, clean water, sanitation and shelter support, and will also help to rapidly mobilize resources to improve access to healthcare, including preventing the spread of cholera and other waterborne diseases, OCHA said.
The humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, said that the floods have created a crisis within a crisis, with millions of people already facing critical levels of food insecurity before the floods.
The ferry, coming from the town of Minova in the South Kivu province, capsized near the port of Kituku, on the outskirts of Goma, capital of the North Kivu province.
In the report addressed to the central government in Kinshasa, the provincial government also spoke of 78 people still missing. The 87 bodies recovered were transported to the morgue of the general hospital in Goma and nine other survivors were taken to hospital.
The number of passengers aboard the boat remains unknown. Local sources, however, told Xinhua a “significant overload” of the boat.
The boat failed to withstand a violent wave before it capsized about 700 m away from the port, said staff of the Kituku port.
Till late Thursday, the population still gathered at the port of Kituku with anxiety and the hope of finding the bodies of their loved ones, observed Xinhua.
The roads between Goma and Minova have been cut off for months due to hostilities between armed groups and the DRC military. Cases of boat accidents are frequent on Lake Kivu due to strong winds and overloading.
People gather at a port after a ferry sank on Lake Kivu near Goma, North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on Oct. 3, 2024.
People are seen at a port after a ferry sank on Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Oct. 3, 2024.
Rescuers work at a port after a ferry sank on Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Oct. 3, 2024.
The first edition of B-READY assessed the business environments of 50 global economies, focusing on three pillars: regulatory frameworks, public service delivery, and operational efficiency. The report focuses on ten indicators, which include Business Entry, Business Location, Utility Services (water, electricity, and internet), Labour Force, Financial Services (access), International Trade, Taxation, Dispute Resolution, Market Competition (Public Procurement), and Business Insolvency.
Rwanda performed exceptionally well in several key areas. In terms of Operational Efficiency, the country earned an impressive score of 81.31%, ranking 3rd globally. For Public Services, Rwanda scored 67.37%, placing 8th in the world. Additionally, the country achieved a score of 70.35% in the Regulatory Framework, securing the 17th spot globally.
The scores position Rwanda as one of the top-performing countries worldwide and the top-performing country in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In terms of operational efficiency, Rwanda remains one of the fastest countries in Africa and globally for company registration. This efficiency stands in contrast to global averages of 32 days for domestic firms and 39 days for foreign firms, reinforcing Rwanda’s position as a regional leader in ease of doing business.
Other measures that have encouraged investments include free online business registration, automated tax filing and payments, one-stop center services for business permits and licenses, and support for foreign ownership and ease of profit repatriation.
In Public Services, Rwanda’s digitization of public services has been a key driver of its strong performance. Systems like the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) for the judiciary and the e-titles system for land services have streamlined processes, reducing both the time and cost of doing business. These innovations play a vital role in enhancing the overall business environment.
Additionally, Rwanda’s regulatory reforms continue to enhance its global competitiveness. Recent legislative efforts, including the 2021 Investment Promotion Law, the Company Law, and the Insolvency Law, have created a more business-friendly regulatory environment. Furthermore, Rwanda’s commercial courts and streamlined processes for business registration and dispute resolution set benchmarks for the region.
On environmental sustainability, the B-READY report highlights Rwanda’s leadership in integrating environmental sustainability into its business practices. Initiatives such as e-mobility and renewable energy demonstrate the country’s commitment to a green economy, positioning Rwanda as a leader in sustainable development across Africa.
Rwanda’s holistic approach to reform also prioritizes good governance, macroeconomic stability, and anti-corruption measures, all of which have contributed to its favourable rankings in the B-READY report.
The Rwanda Development Board (RDB), a government agency responsible for promoting economic development and investment, stated that this performance demonstrates the country’s sustained drive to enhance its business environment and foster a welcoming climate for investors.
Francis Gatare, CEO of the RDB, participated in the launch of the World Bank report in Washington, D.C., United States. He acknowledged the good performance and pledged to further improve the business environment. Ongoing initiatives include the digitization of the One Stop Center, upgrades to business and mortgage registration systems, and the integration of trade services under a Single Transaction Portal.
'Rwanda’s performance in the B-READY report reflects our unwavering commitment to creating a conducive environment for private sector growth and investment. These reforms are the foundation of our socioeconomic transformation, and we will continue to prioritize innovation, sustainability, and efficiency to attract investment and grow the private sector.'
According to the World Bank, the B-READY report will offer countries a roadmap to create a business climate that benefits firms, consumers, the environment, and society as a whole. The 2025 report will assess more than 100 economies, and in 2026, the coverage will expand to about 180 economies.
Francis Gatare, CEO of the RDB, participated in the launch of the World Bank report in Washington, D.C., United States. He acknowledged the good performance and pledged to further improve the business environment.
