rwandaful the hague issue 41

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ISSUE 41 41 December 2014 Monthly Roundup of Rwanda’s Stories Rwanda’s annual Umushyikirano brought together leaders and cizens to discuss the country’s progress, the im- portance of building on achievements and the role of families in naonal development. The homegrown soluon serves as an opportunity for cizens to be acve parcipants in shaping policy as well as hold leaders accountable. This year the event, also known as the Naonal Dialogue Council, was held alongside the meeng of the Advisory Council for the Naonal Commission for the Fight against Genocide. Themed ‘Common Vision, New Momentum’, the two day meeng began on 18 December and was chaired by President Kagame. Cizens joined the dialogue through SMS and online plaorms as well as through the naonal fiber opc video conferencing set up at sites across Rwanda. As in previous years, Rwandan youth joined the discussion through the annual YouthConnekt Con- venon and brought together 2,000 young people including entrepreneurs and professionals, innovators, arsts, students, and young people living with disabilies. The topics for Umushyikirano 2014 were ‘Family – A Foundaon for Naonal Prosperity’ and ‘Safeguarding our Achievements for a Beer Future’. They aimed to highlight the progress made towards Vision 2020 and the steps needed to ensure Rwanda’s transformaon to a middle-income country. The topics aimed to smulate an inclusive dialogue that would result in soluons to the challenges Rwanda faces today. Umushyikirano brought together cizens and leaders to discuss Rwanda's development RWANDA RWANDA FUL FUL The Hague The Hague The presentaon that was given at the Advisory Council for the Naonal Commission for the Fight against Genocide was tled ’20 Years of Renewal’ and covered the achievements and plans in the prevenon and fight against genocide ideology and denial. It also included the efforts being undertaken to preserve the evidence of the genocide against the Tutsi, ensure the welfare of genocide survivors and respond to cases of trauma. While addressing the media about the upcoming Naonal Dialogue, Minis- ter Oda Gasinzigwa of the Ministry of Gender and Family Promoon ex- plained why family will be a topic of discussion: “Our families play an important role in preserving our shared cultural herit- age and values. Umushyikirano will be an opportunity to shed light on the importance of families in ensuring Rwanda’s sustainable development." During the last Naonal Dialogue, President Kagame emphasized the im- portance of dialogue: "Umushyikirano is about the role of every Rwandan in building his or her naon. It is about how far we have come, where we are today and our future. Our differences should enrich our debate and be part of charng a future that benefits all." Governed by Arcle 168 of the Constuon, Umushyikirano is a forum where parcipants debate issues relang to the state of the naon, the state of local government and naonal unity. Umushyikirano draws its strength from the direct parcipaon of cizens in the decisions that affect their daily lives. Umushyikirano has been crucial for Rwanda’s development by placing the needs of cizens at the center of policy making. Members of the Cabinet and Parliament, representaves of the Rwandan community abroad, local government, media, the diplomac community and cizens aended the event. EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF RWANDA The Hague

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Page 1: Rwandaful the hague issue 41

ISSUE

4141December 2014

Monthly Roundup of Rwanda’s

Stories

Rwanda’s annual Umushyikirano brought together leaders and citizens to discuss the country’s progress, the im-portance of building on achievements and the role of families in national development. The homegrown solution serves as an opportunity for citizens to be active participants in shaping policy as well as hold leaders accountable.

This year the event, also known as the National Dialogue Council, was held alongside the meeting of the Advisory Council for the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide. Themed ‘Common Vision, New Momentum’, the two day meeting began on 18 December and was chaired by President Kagame. Citizens joined the dialogue through SMS and online platforms as well as through the national fiber optic video conferencing set up at sites across Rwanda. As in previous years, Rwandan youth joined the discussion through the annual YouthConnekt Con-vention and brought together 2,000 young people including entrepreneurs and professionals, innovators, artists, students, and young people living with disabilities. The topics for Umushyikirano 2014 were ‘Family – A Foundation for National Prosperity’ and ‘Safeguarding our Achievements for a Better Future’. They aimed to highlight the progress made towards Vision 2020 and the steps needed to ensure Rwanda’s transformation to a middle-income country. The topics aimed to stimulate an inclusive dialogue that would result in solutions to the challenges Rwanda faces today.

Umushyikirano brought together citizens and

leaders to discuss Rwanda's development

RWANDARWANDAFULFUL

The HagueThe Hague

The presentation that was given at the Advisory Council for the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide was titled ’20 Years of Renewal’ and covered the achievements and plans in the prevention and fight against genocide ideology and denial. It also included the efforts being undertaken to preserve the evidence of the genocide against the Tutsi, ensure the welfare of genocide survivors and respond to cases of trauma. While addressing the media about the upcoming National Dialogue, Minis-ter Oda Gasinzigwa of the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion ex-plained why family will be a topic of discussion: “Our families play an important role in preserving our shared cultural herit-age and values. Umushyikirano will be an opportunity to shed light on the importance of families in ensuring Rwanda’s sustainable development." During the last National Dialogue, President Kagame emphasized the im-portance of dialogue: "Umushyikirano is about the role of every Rwandan in building his or her nation. It is about how far we have come, where we are today and our future. Our differences should enrich our debate and be part of charting a future that benefits all." Governed by Article 168 of the Constitution, Umushyikirano is a forum where participants debate issues relating to the state of the nation, the state of local government and national unity. Umushyikirano draws its strength from the direct participation of citizens in the decisions that affect their daily lives. Umushyikirano has been crucial for Rwanda’s development by placing the needs of citizens at the center of policy making. Members of the Cabinet and Parliament, representatives of the Rwandan community abroad, local government, media, the diplomatic community and citizens attended the event.

EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF RWANDA

The Hague

Page 2: Rwandaful the hague issue 41

Umushyikirano - continued On 18 December President Paul Kagame opened the 12th National Dialogue known as Umushyikirano under the theme “Common Vision, New Momentum”. He also delivered the State of Nation address for the year 2014. In his opening address, President Kagame began his address by thanking citizens who are actively participating in this 12th Umushyikirano. “I thank not only those of you gathered here in Parliament, from all over Rwanda and the Rwandan community abroad, but also, the millions of Rwandans around the country; Umushyikirano is not a spectator sport or a talk show. The contributions that you make can affect the direction of our country”. In his State of Nation address, President Kagame praised the Rwandans who work hard to develop their country and highlighted some achievements reached in this year. “Rwanda’s economy has continued to grow steadily. Today is 7.8% larger than it was a year ago, and we are on target to exceed our growth forecast for 2014. The agriculture sector accounts for one-third of GDP, and it grew 6% over last year”. On the energy which was one of the recommendation of previous Umushyikirano, President Kagame said that today Rwanda is generating 40% more power, than at the beginning of the year, as a result of new hydro and solar power generation projects. Before discussing the topics set for the day one, Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi gave a report on the implementation of 11th Umushyikirano where he said that out of 26 resolutions taken last year, 23 were fully implemented and while three were partially implemented. He added that the resolutions not fully achieved are expected to be complete by the end of the financial year 2014-2015. Topics discussed were: Safeguarding our achievements, the impact of the governed-governor relationship on development , why Rwandans should rely on her own solutions and family as foundation for national prosperity Umushyikirano is an annual event where participants debate issues relating to the state of nation, local government and national unity. The closing day had one topic which was “20 years of renewal” and adoption of the resolution before the closing remarks by President Kagame. In his closing remarks, President Kagame said Rwandans have worked hard to reach the level of development the country now cerebrates. He added that the journey was very tough because Rwandans have to always to deal with their inherent problems and problems caused by others. "We have secured the right to be, and nobody will take away that; for those who will attempt, it will be very expensive for them. There is a line you cannot cross. We shall never be apologetic for standing up for our rights. To be humble is in our culture, but we are very firm too, and no-body should attempt to take our right to be, or tell us what to be." President Kagame said that if it comes to the choice between money and the right to be, Rwandans would choose their right to be. "God created us equal and for those who want people to bow for them, they are in the wrong place in Rwanda. It’s the wrong thing to belittle people, and it’s difficult in Rwanda because Rwandans cannot accept this. Time ahead is difficult, and we have built the capacities for this. The hardships and lessons we have learnt should not go to waste." Watch the State of Nation address here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh4jaJ20Jp8 Learn more about Umushyikirano here: http://www.rwandapedia.rw/<wbr />explore/umushyikirano

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End of year speeches

President Kagame End of Year Message - Kigali, 31 December 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM_zLZQdrWY

End of year Press Conference with Minister Louise Mushikiwabo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zc4SHRpQKA

Rwanda's Economic Highlights in 2014 Rwanda has recorded significant economic progress in 2014. Here we profile some of the many highlights, including the issuing of three domestic bonds, the hosting of the African Development Bank Group annual meetings and economic growth of 7.8 percent. Rwanda issued RwF 15 Billion, 7 year fixed coupon treasury bond On 24 November 2014, the Government of Rwanda has issued a 7-year fixed coupon rate treasury bond of RwF 15 billion. The bond will facilitate the development of the capital as well as fund infrastructure projects. The bond issuance is part of the gov-ernment’s comprehensive treasury bond issuance plan for the fiscal year 2014/2015. This bond follows the success of a RwF 12.5 billion 3-year bond and RwF 15 billion 5-year bonds issued in February and August. The two bonds, which were oversub-scribed by 140 and 232 percent respectively, signalled investor confidence in Rwanda’s currency and economy. Rwanda's GDP increased by 7.8 pct in Q3, 2014 In the third quarter of 2014, GDP at current market prices was estimated to be RwF 1,393 billion, up from RwF 1,233 billion in the same quarter of 2013. The services sector contributed 47 percent of GDP while the agriculture sector contributed 34 per-cent. The industry sector contributed 14 percent of GDP, and five percent was attributed to adjustment for taxes less subsidies on products. The agriculture sector grew by six percent and contributed 1.8 percentage points to overall GDP growth. Activi-ties in the industry sector grew by four percent and contributed 0.7 percentage points to GDP growth. The service sector in-creased by 10 percent and contributed five percentage points to GDP growth in Rwanda. Rwanda hosted the African Development Bank Annual Meetings as the bank celebrated 50 years From 19-23 May 2014, Rwanda hosted the annual meeting of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). The theme of this year's meetings was “The next 50 Years: The Africa we want”. Participants looked towards the next half century and what the continent hopes to achieve. The event was attended by Heads of State, Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from the Bank’s 54 regional member countries, and attracted more than 2,500 delegates representing multilateral finance institu-tions, development agencies, the private sector, non-governmental organisations, civil society and the media. Rwanda ranked 1st in EACommunity in World Bank Doing Business ranking Rwanda was this year ranked 46th out of 189 countries in the recent World Bank Doing Business report. This presents a strong performance given the widened scope in the new methodology that assesses new areas. The report is a survey conducted on how easy it is to do business in the country. A high ranking on the ease of doing business index means the regulatory environ-ment is more conducive to start and operate a local firm. In the overall performance, Rwanda is still the best performing coun-try in the East and Central Africa and 3rd easiest place to do business in Africa (1st is Mauritius which ranks 28th globally, 2nd is South Africa which ranks 43rd). Fitch Upgraded Rwanda to ‘B+’; Outlook Stable In July, Fitch upgraded Rwanda’s long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR’s) to B+ with a stable outlook. It also upgraded Rwanda’s senior unsecured foreign and local currency bonds to B+. The outlook on long-term IDRs is stable while the country ceiling was upgraded to ‘B+’ and the short-term foreign currency IDR was affirmed at ‘B’. Rwanda joined a limited number of Sub-Saharan African sovereigns with a Fitch B+ rating or higher.

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Rwanda's Conservation Highlights in 2014

2014 has been a big year for conservation and environmental protection in Rwanda. Over the last twelve months, Rwanda marked a number of important conservation milestones, from cele-brating 80 years of the oldest national park in the country, to naming 18 baby gorillas and beginning the planting of over 30 million trees. Read more about some of the top conservation high-lights in Rwanda in 2014. Celebrating 80 years of Akagera National Park Akagera National Park this year celebrated its 80th anniversary. The 1,122km2-wide park is located in the north-east of Rwanda, along the border with Tanzania, and is the only protected savannah region in Rwanda. It is named after the Akagera River that flows along the eastern boundary and feeds into a labyrinth of lakes of which the largest is Lake Ihema. The number of visitors to the park has increased from 15,259 in 2009 to 26,092 in 2013, 50% of which were Rwandans. A recent census showed that Akagera National Park has more than 5,000 antelope, 2,500 buffalo, 60 giraffe and 90 elephants. The park is also home to hundreds of species of birds, different reptiles and aquatic animals and a healthy number of leopards and hyenas. In 2015, Rwanda plans to reintroduce lions and rhinos to the park. Marking ten years of gorilla conservation by naming 18 baby gorillas On 1 July, Rwanda celebrated the birth of 18 new baby gorillas at the 10th anniversary of Kwita Izina, the annual gorilla naming ceremony. The event was held at the foothills of the Virunga Mountains in Kinigi, northern Rwanda, and brought together more than 40,000 residents of Musanze District and visitors from all over the world. This year’s Kwita Izina was held under the theme: “A Decade: Conserving-Empowering-Growing”<wbr />, with emphasis on how gorilla tourism empowers communities through revenue sharing programs. Rwandans began planting 30,739,957 trees On 28 November, Rwanda joined the rest of the world to celebrate International Tree Planting Day. During this year's tree planting season, Rwandans will plant 30,739,957 seedlings. The launch event was held under the theme "Enhancing climate change resilience through agroforestry" and recognised the role of forests in the restoration of ecosystems and in enhancing cli-mate change resilience. By 2018, Rwanda aims to have 30% its surface area covered by forests, up from 28.8% as of the end of 2013/2014. Every year, Rwanda will plant trees on 8,150 hec-tares to achieve that target. Launch of Rwanda's first ever Environment and Climate Change Fund This year Rwanda launched the Fund for the Environment and Climate Change, a ground-breaking initiative and the biggest of its kind in Africa. The fund will be the engine of green growth in Rwanda, mobilising and channelling domestic and international financing to public and private environment and climate change projects. The green fund will support projects that align with the country’s commitment to a strong and prosperous green economy. The fund has already received over 1,000 funding submissions, mobilised over US $75 million, approved 18 projects and trained over 750 stakeholders in proposal development. By 2020, it aim to raise US $100 million per year, create 5,000 green jobs in Rwanda and prevent the emission of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. Huge Investments in Solar and Hydro Renewable Energy In 2014, the Government of Rwanda launched two key renewable energy power plants, including the Nyabarongo Hydro Power and the Rwamagana Solar Plant that will generate 28MW and 8MW respectively. Under Rwanda's five year development plan (EDPRS II) the government will generate over five times the current capacity by 2017 to boost access to safe, reliable, and cost effective energy for people of Rwanda. Before the launch of the Nyabarongo Hydro Power and the Rwamagana Solar plants, the total installed power capacity was 119MW. The plan is to reach 563MW by 2017/18. This year, the government also launched a programme in partnership with Mobisol Rwanda to provide solar power to one million households over the next few years.

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Rwanda's ICT Highlights in 2014 During the year 2014, the ICT sector in Rwanda continued to grow to boost the country’s social-economic development. Below are some of the highlights for the ICT sector in 2014. ITU Awards President Kagame President Paul Kagame has received the 2014 World Telecommunication Information Society. The Award is presented by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to individuals who have made exceptional contribution to improving lives of world citizens through ICTs. President Kagame said Rwanda’s ICT strategy is based on integrating key sectors in a system that combines connectivity, enabling policy and regulatory framework, as well as skills development and networks. StarTimes Group recognized President Kagame with the first ever “Number One in ICT and Communication Award” On Thursday 15th May 2014, StarTimes Group awards President Paul Kagame for his visionary leadership and commitment towards meeting the set objectives of Vision 2020 in promoting ICT and communications. The Minister of Youth and ICT received the award on behalf of the President. StarTimes is a worldwide technology company that was established in 1988 in China. The com-pany that started developing its African markets in 2002, was issued the first digital TV operator license by Rwanda in 2007. Currently StarTimes is operational in 23 African nations. Rwanda re-elected member of ITU Council Rwanda has been re-elected a member state of the Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for 2014-2018. Rwanda earned 110 votes at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, South Korea. The Rwanda’s Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana stressed that “This is an opportunity to keep contributing to shaping the global ICT for Development agen-da.” He commends all ITU member states for renewed confidence to serve on ITU council. Rwanda continues to be one of the fastest growing African countries in ICT... from e-commerce and e-services, mobile technologies, applications development and automation to becoming a regional centre for the training of top quality ICT professionals and research. Northern Corridor countries agree to adopt “One-Network-Area” This year, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan adopted a regional telecommunications framework for a “One-Network-Area” to be implemented by 2015. The framework scraps roaming charges and reducing the cost of calls by 60%. Rwanda and Kenya have both implement the plan with Uganda and South Sudan to follow shortly. The One-Network-Area is being implemented as a result of resolutions made during the 5th Heads of State Summit for the Northern Corridor Integration Projects held in Nairobi, Kenya in May 2014. The regional framework for the One-Network-Area applies to telephone calls originating and terminating within the region and mandates members to adopt the following: Exemption of regional calls from surcharges applied by member states on international incoming calls. No additional charges to subscribers on account of roaming within the region. And no charges for receiving calls while roaming within the region.

Rwanda launches faster Internet broadband network Rwanda joined a few other countries to enjoy Fourth Generation Long-Term Evolution (4G LTE) Internet services after it was launched in Kigali on Tuesday, November 11, 2014. Speaking at the launch of this service, the Minister for Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, said that the rollout of 4G LTE will speed up national development goals by speeding up ICT based services as well as creating jobs and proving new opportunities to deliver better services across the country. This launch enables peo-ple to accomplish their dreams and new ideas will blossom. The launch of 4G LTE is one of many activities that our Government is putting in place so as to achieve a middle class knowledge based economy targets by 2020,” Minister Nsengimana stressed.

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Rwanda's ICT Highlights in 2014—continued MYICT launches the awareness campaign of 4G LTE for Rwandans The Ministry of Youth and ICT (MYICT) has launched yesterday the awareness of 4G LTE for citi-zens of Kigali City at the football ground of IPRC in Kicukiro District. With SMART Kigali initiative the event has been organized during the ongoing Koranubuhanga campaign is organized in col-laboration with MINALOC and brings together all public institutions offering online services, TV broadcasters, TV suppliers, Telecom operators, Banks, Phone suppliers, and other companies offering ICT as well as ICT-enabled services. Implementation of Rwanda Online Platform officially takes off On August 19th, 2014; the Government of Rwanda and Rwanda Online Platform Limited kicked off the beginning of the first phase of implementation of the Rwanda Online platform set to es-tablish an integrated public service platform that will exclusively offer Government to Business (G2B) and Government to Citizen (G2C) services in the country, accessible via internet and mo-bile devices. The agreement between the Government of Rwanda and Rwanda Online Platform Limited, signed in April of this year, granted the concession to Rwanda Online Platform to Build and Operate the Platform for twenty-five (25) years, after which it will be transferred back to the Government of Rwanda. President Kagame addressed participants at the Smart Rwanda Conference President Kagame has said that digital innovation has leveled the playing field, making it easy for anyone from anywhere can compete in the global economy. Speaking at an interactive session during the conclusion of the Smart Rwanda conference. President Kagame said digital innovation means ideas do not have borders and therefore countries cannot be landlocked. Rwanda collaborates with Facebook to boost social education Facebook introduced SocialEDU, a pilot initiative that will provide students in Rwanda with free access to a collaborative online education experience. With SocialEDU, students in Rwanda will receive free data plans for accessing free edX MOOCs from some of the world’s leading universi-ties. “Internet.org is about working together to remove barriers to access and give billions of people the power to connect to the knowledge economy,” said Javier Olivan, Vice President of Growth and Analytics at Facebook. “SocialEDU represents this kind of collaboration at its best.” Rwanda’s Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana said, “The Government of Rwan-da is excited to partner with Facebook to open up a world full of content and interaction to Rwandan students. The social education experience will accelerate innovation and propel Rwan-da into a knowledge-based economy.”

Rwanda’s mining sector open for business Rwanda has joined the rest of the world in celebrating International Mining Day. The event was preceded by Mining Week, which ran from 27 November with a focus on professional mining as a pillar to growth and sustainable development. Officiating Mining Day, the Minister of Environment & Natural Resources Dr. Vincent Biruta said, “Over the last decade, Rwanda has experienced remarkable growth in the mining sector, with export earnings growing to US $226 million in 2013, up from US $40 million in 2006. Min-ing has now become the largest export earner and the second largest foreign exchange earner in the country.”

Since 2007, mining has transformed from a publicly run sector into a private industry. There are now more than 500 licensed mining companies and cooperatives carrying out prospection, exploration or mining at more than 648 sites across Rwanda. Many of these sites are managed on a small-scale basis and their capacity is being upgraded through training and partnerships. “Professional mining is safe mining. Our industry can only grow at the rate we want if we con-tinue to prioritise the safety of miners. In addition, we are encouraging investment in technol-ogy and making loan facilities available for potential investors,” said Evode Imena, Minister of State in Charge of Mining. “Currently there are investments in geological works for gold and gemstones which is in addition to the country’s three key minerals, cassiterite, wolfram and coltan,“ he added. Rwanda’s mining sector employs at least 34,000 people and the target is to increase this num-ber to 60,000 by 2017/2018 with at least 30% of workers being female. The vision for the min-ing sector is to ensure the optimal and sustainable utilisation of mineral resources. The mining sector is among the priority industries in Rwanda, contributing to poverty elimination, eco-nomic growth, rural employment and the country’s goal of becoming a middle-income country by the year 2020.

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Rwanda’s annual Service Investment Forum kicks off with a focus on quality and excellence This year’s annual Service Investment Forum comes at a time when Rwanda is ramping up efforts to attract investors to set up businesses in the services sector. Themed ‘Growing Beyond Borders’, the forum recognises that the services sector cuts across several industries and nations and represents huge business opportunities in tourism, information and communications technology, creative industries, healthcare, transport, logis-tics and education.

The Rwanda Development Board’s Chief Operating Officer, Clare Akamanzi, said that this year’s forum follows the success of the first one held last year that established key priority industries for Rwanda. “The services sector is currently the biggest contributor to the country’s GDP, contributing 46 per cent. We aim for the sector to play an even bigger role in propelling Rwanda in its journey to become a middle-income economy by 2020.”

“Rwanda has initiated the most comprehensive liberalisation process in the East African region and will pursue further reform of services sub-sectors in a bid to attract high quality investors. The expansion of professional services will be accompanied by a stronger focus on training and skills development of the local workforce to meet growing demand,” Akamanzi said. She encouraged investors to take advantage of the incentives in place. For instance, investors who invest in Kigali are entitled to an investment allowance of 40 per cent of the invested amount in new or used assets while those who invest outside Kigali are entitled to a 50 per cent allow-ance. Companies that engage in micro finance activities are exempt from corporate income tax for five years commencing from the time of their ap-proval. Another incentive is the tax discounts accorded to all registered investors depending on the number of jobs they create. The more jobs created, the higher the discount. A new investment code that will be enacted early 2015 will also provide attractive incentives aimed at diversify-ing the economy. Rwanda also intends to increase cooperation with regional partners to strengthen regulatory institutions and policy making in the area of ser-vices, particularly those that have been prioritised for liberalisation in East African Community. “We are encouraging Public-Private Partnerships and putting emphasis on developing a culture of quality and excellence, which will enable Rwandan service firms to be competitive,” Akamanzi said. The two-day forum is a platform through which participants can interact and learn from other services-based economies and engage potential investors. You can learn more about the forum by visiting www.sifrwanda.com.

The Embassy On Social Media Follow us not only on Facebook and Twitter, but also on Flickr and Youtube and be the first one to know the latest news from the Embassy. We invite our followers on social media to “like” our posts, react to them and post relevant items on our Facebook page and also to react on and re-tweet our tweets on Twitter. This way, you will help spread the emerging great story of Rwanda to those who do not yet know. Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Rwanda-Embassy-in-The-Hague/151677708237339#! Twitter: www.twitter.com/EmbassyRwandaNL Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/embassyrwandanl Youtube: www.youtube.com/EmbassyRwandaNL

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Government pledges continued support for media self-regulation Media practitioners, government officials and partners in the media sector have come together for the sixth National Media Dialogue. The meeting deliberated on how the media can increase professionalism, make the sector more viable as well as play its role in the country’s development. The focus of the dialogue was assessing the impact of the two-year-old media reforms. Opening the dialogue, Minister of Local Government, Francis Kaboneka, explained that the government has worked to provide an ena-bling environment that promotes a vibrant media sector. He highlighted the self-regulation reforms as one example. “Media self regu-lation is now functioning, thanks to joint efforts between the government and journalists’ associations. I would like to assure the media fraternity of unwavering government support for as long as it takes for the Media Self Regulatory body to stand on its own,” Minister Kaboneka said. The Minister also mentioned other key media reforms including:

Revising the mandate of the Media High Council to deal with developing media capacities, rather than regulating the media

Changing the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency from a state to a public broadcaster

Enacting the Access to Information Law, making Rwanda the 11th country in Africa to put in place such a law

Speaking at the event, Fred Muvunyi, the Chairman of the Rwanda Media Commission, acknowledged that Rwanda’s media sector is developing.

“We can pride ourselves that in Rwanda today, we have a conducive media environment though there is still much to do,” he said. Theodore Ntarindwa, Head of the Forum of Private Newspapers, also underscored the development of the sector. “We are happy that, for the first time in Rwanda, we are regulated by a media law that came from our journalists ideas and media is flourishing under self regulation of media”. Auke Lootsma, Country Director of UNDP in Rwanda, hailed the progress media has registered and promised continued support to deepen reforms. “The media sector in Rwanda was transformed to attract investment. We believe investing in media is investing in democracy and we will continue to do so,” he said. The National Media Dialogue is an annual meeting that discusses various topics ranging from profitability of the media sector, enhanc-ing professionalism, effective enforcement of ethical standards, the role of the media self-regulatory body and positioning Rwanda as a business and investment destination for the media sector.

President Kagame hosts Rwanda cycling team

President Kagame hosted the Rwanda National Cycling team to a reception at Serena Hotel, to congratulate them for winning this year’s Tour du Rwanda, a conti-nental cycling championship held annually in Rwanda. In his address, President Kagame congratulated the winner, Valens Ndayisenga and the entire team, the team coach, the Ministry of Sports and the Rwanda Cycling Federation (FERWACY) making the country proud: “The triumph of the Karisimbi team is a reflection of the Rwandan spirit; sacrifice, teamwork, resilience and disci-pline. Discipline makes everything sustainable because without it, you cannot expect to keep winning. Instead, you keep experiencing decline.” President Kagame pledged his support to the team so that it can achieve more, by building on what they al-ready have: “You deserve support because you have earned it. We will ensure that you are not lacking in anything that you need to perform better. We will avail the tools you need and leave the rest to you to realise your potentials.” The Minister of Sports and Culture, Joseph Habineza said the original idea came from President Kagame, who suggested to him that Rwandans should stop concen-trating on the mainstream sports disciplines and ven-ture into others like cycling.

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Rwanda at Vakantiebeurs exhibition Utrecht

Come and visit the largest tourism exhibition in the Benelux, called Vakantiebeurs, from 14 to 18 January.

In hall 2 (Africa) you will find the Rwanda stand right in the centre of the hall.

The Rwanda team of 2015: Rwanda Development Board Embassy of Rwanda Amahoro Tours East Africa Eco Explorer Mercator Assistance Tours Rwanda Access Safaris On the Rwanda stand you will find a photobooth. Make a photo and tag yourself in this photo on www.facebook.com/travelrwanda and you can win a ticket to Rwanda with RwandAir!