President Kagame shared Rwanda’s own experience and tough choices the country had to make to move forward. Photos/Urugwiro Village.
President Paul Kagame kicked off his working to Singapore with a fireside chat this Thursday, where he shared Rwanda’s experience and lessons learnt over the past three decades, as the country sought to rebuild itself after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, sharing some of the choices and homegrown solutions that had to be deployed to turn things around.
The Head of State, who is in , to attend the 11th annual Asia Summit and hold bilateral meetings with Singapore’s leadership, joined a fireside chat moderated by Richard Ditizio, the CEO of Milken Institute, where they discussed Rwanda’s initiatives to build a stronger country, from growing an innovative and resilient domestic economy to internationalizing its markets and fostering strategic relationships with key global partners.
President Kagame talked about Rwanda’s experience and lessons learnt over the past three decades, highlighting some of the choices the country had to make after its tragic history, characterised by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, a past he said the country has had to put behind and embark on uniting people and rebuilding.
“Rwanda has had a tragic history but we have left that behind us. For us to move forward successfully we had to make choices, policy choices if you will. It starts with mobilizing everybody in the country to understand why some of those choices are the ones we have to adopt,” President Kagame said, pointing out that things can’t just be addressed by politics.
“Politics is a very good thing in as far as politics allows the right environment for other things to happen. That is how we came to embrace doing business and attracting investments. We had to figure out how best can we attract investments to our country and allow our own citizens to thrive,” he said.
President Kagame had a chat with Milken Institute CEO, Richard Ditizio.
President Kagame said that overall, there has to be clear governance that allows stability -a type of governance that suits the people and meets their needs.
“Governance is an issue of rights and accountability. We fight corruption. We have created an environment where people who get involved in that will understand it is not a good thing to be involved in, especially when you are caught. It’s important; it’s justice, it’s an issue of rights, it’s beneficial to everyone. We take this seriously,” President Kagame said.
Themed “Impactful Ideas: Purposeful Action,” the Summit is an opportunity for leaders in government and in business, finance, health, technology, and philanthropy to explore untapped opportunities to improve health and well-being, engender sustainable practices, enhance competitiveness, and activate more impactful investments for people and the planet.
The 2024 Asia Summit is a unique platform where leading entrepreneurs can connect with people whose expertise, creativity, and passion are transforming health, finance, business, technology, philanthropy, and society.
During his visit, President Kagame will be hosted for a luncheon by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong followed by meetings with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Singapore and Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong.
