By Irigoga Charlotte RRA is currently hosting and running the Rwanda information trade portal, a data hub that adds to the many other online platforms like Electronic Single Window, Cargo Tracking System among others that are facilitating trade and making it seamless in the region. This has significantly led to improvements of Rwanda’s ranking in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Reports especially on the trading Across Borders indicator. Traders in Rwanda will now easily access trade information and benefit from resulting efficiency following the launch of the Rwanda trade portal (www.rwandatrade.rw) which has so far consolidated 94 procedures composed of 532 steps that traders follow to import and export commodities in and out of Rwanda. Furthermore, the portal, plays home to 680 trade documents, has 80 civil servants from different institutions available to respond to queries and is built on 185 legal instruments. What are its benefits? ·         It will bring total transparency to rules and procedures detailed from the trader’s point of view. ·         Will simplify access to trade information (steps and requirements) ·         Promote public private dialogue through a shared understanding of rules and procedures ·         It will reduce costs, time and effort spent in searching for trade information. ·         It will reduce the time needed to import goods in Rwanda by 47% and time required to export by 91%. How it works The portal has a step by step guide for each procedure, the system shows all the steps and each contains: What you will get: results of the step, who to see: entity/unit/officer in charge with contact data, what to bring: requirements (forms and documents), How long it takes, who to complain to, authority certifying that the step is correctly described among others. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded the development and roll out of the portal, UNCTAD and ITC provided technical assistance and other stakeholders in this initiative are exporters, importers, clearing agents, potential entrepreneurs, Government /Policy makers, Academia and researchers, other Development partners’ international organizations and umbrella bodies. The Rwanda Trade Portal has cumulative economic benefits for all stakeholders in the movement of goods across Rwanda’s borders and it will serve greatly to improve the efficiency of imports and exports in Rwanda.