Author: John Mbaraga

The meeting between both officials was held yesterday in Paris, France.

Through her twitter account, Mushikiwabo said that she met Diouf who is also former Senegalese President as part of her candidacy for La Francophonie.

“Very interesting meeting with President Abdou Diouf tonight in Paris. As part of my candidacy for La Francophonie, I am honored to be able to benefit from his valuable advice and 12 years of experience heading the OIF,” reads her tweet.

Diouf had been the President of Senegal from 1981 to 2000. He was also the second Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie from January 2003 to December 2014.

After leaving office as President of Senegal, he was unanimously elected as Secretary-General of La Francophonie at the organization’s Ninth Summit on October 20, 2002 in Beirut, Lebanon following the withdrawal of the only other candidate, Henri Lopes of the Republic of the Congo.

Diouf took office as Secretary-General on January 1, 2003. He was re-elected as Secretary-General for another four years at the organization’s summit in Bucharest, Romania in September 2006.

Recently, Mushikiwabo revealed that she has started to campaign for the leadership of the international organization representing French speaking countries. She said that her priority will be to move the organization towards being multilingual.

Premier was speaking Wednesday in Kigali while officiating the launch of Africa Innovation Summit (AIS) held under the theme; “Addressing Africa’s Challenges”.

The AIS is an Africa-wide and home grown initiative aimed at harnessing the innovation potential on the continent. It also aims at mobilizing people and especially those with capacity to promote and build an enabling environment for innovation in Africa.

Ngirente said that Rwanda is taking strides in building a robust ecosystem for innovation in order to help the country meet its aspirations of a knowledge-based economy.

“We have also created a conducive legal and regulatory framework for doing business, invested in infrastructure and improved health system. All these have started to boost innovative activities in the Country,” he said.

He said that next week the governmentwill launch a Research and Innovation Fund.

“I am pleased to share that we will officially launch our National Research and Innovation Fund next week that we believe shall serve as a major research funding vehicle through which research and research-based innovation activities shall be supported,” he revealed.

Ngirente said that Africa has consistently invested in infrastructure development, agriculture, conducive policy and regulatory environment to attract private investment.

He oberved that the continent’s many development challenges can be addressed through innovation.

“Africa has not been able to leverage private sector as an engine for transformation. The fact is, the only way to resolving these and other challenges facing African countries is innovation. We must innovate. We must build robust ecosystems for innovation,” he noted.

The three-day Summit brought together investors, policy makers, researchers, academics, business community, youth, innovators and thinkers from around the World.

RMB Chief Executive Officer, Francis Gatare revealed this yesterday in a consultative meeting that brought together sector players including government institutions, business community and donors.

Gatare said that the good sector performance is attributed to the recovery of minerals price on international market and improved production from mining companies.

“Last year, mining sector contributed enough to the development of the country where it earned Rwanda a total of $370 million from exports. We target to increase mining earnings to $600 million this year,” he said.

“This is possible basing on measures that have been taken like raising mining production capacity and embracing modern mining practices,” he added.

Rwanda has been exporting wolfram, coltan and cassiterite and gemstones.

Gatare said that this year, they will invest in buying modern mining technolgies which will help double the production.

“The challenges this sector faces include poor technologies which only extract less than 40% of the real potential,” he explained.

The coordinator of Mining Companies in Northern Province, Placide Gaju told IGIHE that it is possible to raise the production capacity once they revised mining process.

“We lose big quantities of minerals along mining and separation processes. With the use of modern practices backed by polished skills, production will certainly soar,” he explained.

Last year, Rwanda exported a total of 7000 tonnes and this year target 10,000 tonnes. Rwanda targets $800 million from mining in 2020 and $1.5 billion in 2024.

Often the best marketing campaigns are controversial and shocking and that is exactly what Rwanda Tourism has achieved. Even before a ball is kicked with their logo emblazoned on the Arsenal FC shirt, they have already generated press coverage around the world.

The controversy surrounds a three-year £30 million sponsorship of one of the most high profile and wealthiest teams in the world – a global football brand with a new manager for the upcoming season.

What is so controversial is that it could be argued as indulgent and a private passion from President Kagame, who is publicly an avid fan of Arsenal, while the country received millions in aid from other countries (£60 million-plus from the UK alone) and over 60% of the Rwandan population live in poverty.

Far removed from the genocide 25 years ago, Rwanda is a country rich in assets, welcoming more than 1.2 million tourists in 2017. Best known for its gorillas in the volcanic mountain region, it also boasts beautiful lakeside resorts and a national park, which is home to the “big five” game animals.

Unlike many areas of the world, Rwanda is said to be “generally safe” by the UK Foreign Office (FCO) with low crime rates. The economy is on the up and recent times have seen an influx of foreign investment into five-star hotels in the capital city and wider region.

There are three direct flights a week from Gatwick to Rwanda, which has driven an increase in visitors to the region with UK visitors growing by 20% in 2017. Indeed, tourism now accounts for over 12% of GDP, with over 100,000 people employed in Tourism-related jobs.

The aim of the sponsorship is to heighten awareness of Rwanda and grow visitor numbers to 1.7 million in the next ten years while growing tourism revenues to £800 million over the next six years.

While the sponsorship investment has sparked controversy, and many countries including Holland and Germany have called for an inquiry, the chief executive of the Rwanda Development Board has been very public and vocal to highlight that the investment has come from existing tourism revenues and not from government aid.

The UK government has also clarified that foreign aid is earmarked for specific development activity rather than using taxpayers’ money for sponsorship of a very wealthy football team.

While the sponsorship has created a significant division of opinion, my view is that this is an incredibly smart piece of marketing by Rwanda Tourism. Advertising is awash with destination management companies and tourism boards trying to entice potential tourists to visit.

What Rwanda has achieved is a significant cut-through and builds awareness globally through a single piece of sponsorship. In any business you have to invest money to generate revenue. Responsible tourism, eco tourism and the economic prosperity of locals have become significant concerns for travellers.

This campaign has already achieved a lot through PR alone. On the basis that the population of Rwanda receives the benefits of the tourists who come to enjoy their country and, over time, reduces the dependency on foreign aid, it could prove to be one of the most successful campaigns by any tourist board.

{{Source: ttgmedia.com}}