President Paul Kagame is this weekend, expected to discuss Rwanda’s future at a youth forum in Dallas, Texas in the United States.
Kagame has been invited to attend the first edition of the Rwanda Youth Forum scheduled for May 23-24, organized by members of the Diaspora in collaboration with Rwanda Embassy in US.
Organizers say the event will attract hundreds of Rwandan Youths from different parts of the world.
A statement from the forum organizers quotes Kagame ahead of the event saying, “Your generation is the one we have been waiting for…you better stand up to be worth the expectation and name.”
Youths in Rwanda make 70% of the country’s 11 million people. The landlocked East African country has limited natural resources, but is aggressively investing in its people as a resource.
Organizers of the event told KT Press that tens of youths from Rwanda will showcase different business success stories to attract fellow youths in the Diaspora to invest in their country.
Youths asking questions during Rwanda Day in Atlanta Georgia last year
One of them, Etienne Gatete, the proprietor of ISARO Limited, a food processing factory, will showcase biscuits made from sugarcane grown from a remote District of Kamonyi, Southern Rwanda, home to many a Diaspora.
Gatari Gilbert, a coffee exporter largely to USA, will also attend and showcase his business.
Gatari says the mission is to motivate more Rwandans abroad to come back home and contribute to development.
“It’s fantastic to be back home and invest in a very young economy like Rwanda,” he told KT Press.
Rwanda was devastated by the 1994 genocide against Tutsi, which left over 1 million people killed.
Picking up from scratches, Kagame’s leadership has transformed Rwanda into a fast growing economy with 8% growth rate in the past two decades.
Kagame’s ambition is to transform Rwanda into a knowledge based economy especially tapping into the youths, with instrumental pro- youth initiatives promoting skills and employment in Infrastructure, Agriculture Sector, Natural Resources, Investment, Trade and Industry, ICT, Health, and Education.
The Youth Forum is one of the events Kagame engages Rwandans in Diaspora for their contribution to national development.
Rwanda Day, an annual event organized in different countries by the government and the private sector, inspires Rwandan professionals abroad to be part of the country’s development momentum.
President Paul Kagame during a Rwanda Day event held September 2014 in Atlanta Georgia, US
