Ngirente was speaking Wednesday in the African Development Bank Annual Meetings in Busan, South Korea.
The meeting was organized under the theme, “Accelerating Africa’s Industrialization”.
For Ngirente, the meeting is a good occasion to reflect on the role of industrialization, as a catalyst for economic development.
“Accelerating industrialization in Africa would increase productivity through value addition, create more jobs, raise incomes, and bring prosperity to our citizens. Globally, the share of Africa in the value chains of manufacturing is only around 2 per cent, and most of our exports are raw commodities. Changing this trend requires political commitment, effective public services, a conducive regulatory environment and a proactive private sector,” he said.
He said that Africa has gained momentum over the past decade on improving major macroeconomic indicators, but, still faces constraints that must be addressed together with partners, including production capacity, infrastructure, trade information, access to finance and trade facilitation.
According to Ngirente, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 indicates key flagship projects that will accelerate transformational change on the continent. These projects include the African Commodities Strategy, the Free Movement of People, the Continental Free Trade Area, and the Single African Air Transport Market.
He said that holding the meetings in Busan, is an opportunity to reinforce the good cooperation between Africa and the Republic of Korea.
Ngirente said that the establishment of the Korea-Africa development cooperation framework in 2006 was successful at enhancing that relationship, particularly in the areas of energy, ICT, agriculture, green growth, and human resource development.
In Rwanda he said the partnership with Korea has focused on higher education and knowledge transfer, building ICT innovation capacity, as well as key supporting technical and vocational training institutions.
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