President Kagame today at Urugwiro Village met with Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister and founder of the African Governance Initiative, a charitable organisation which aims to assist African leaders to effectively deliver their vision for their countries. Mr Blair, who is on the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) and a regular visitor to Rwanda, is here as part of the partnership with the Government of Rwanda in which AGI has been providing capacity building support since 2008. The meeting today follows Mr Blair’s earlier visit in May and marks AGI’s second year in Rwanda.
Professionals from AGI are currently working side by side with officials in the Office of the President, the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Public Service and the Rwanda Development Board, to assist in delivering on key priorities for Rwanda’s development, promoting investment and advising on government capacity building strategy.
Mr Blair also met separately with Minister Anastase Murekezi at the Ministry of Public Service, Minister Protais Musoni at the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and Minister Louise Mushikiwabo at the Ministry of Information both based at the Office of the Prime Minister, and discussed the ongoing assistance from the AGI in developing systems and processes in the respective institutions.
Mr Blair is scheduled to progress in various areas tomorrow when he will witness the signing of a major green energy investment and visit a bio-fuel laboratory. Mr Blair is also expected to visit a school to view the ongoing government campaign to build over 3000 additional classrooms for the newly established nine-year basic education programme.
President Kagame, the recipient of YPO’s Global Leadership Award in 2003, welcomed the delegation to Rwanda and said that he was pleased that partnership with YPO was becoming productive through the projects identified, noting that they were of great value to the country and pledged to support the initiatives.