Addis Ababa, 30 January 2018
President Kagame today attended the opening plenary of the Africa Business and Investment Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Other Heads of State who attended the opening plenary include Prime Minister of Ethiopia, H.E Hailemariam Desalegn, President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, and President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Also in attendance was the AUC Chairperson Moussa Faki.
The forum brings together over 240 African and U.S. public and private sector leaders, with the objective of ensuring that leaders hear the private sector’s voice, and that their policies continue to address, in concrete ways, the challenges faced by the private sector across the continent.
In his address, President Kagame, who is also the incumbent Chair of the African Union Assembly, reiterated that the support from the private sector is key to achieving the Union’s development agenda.
“We need active support from the private sector. In fact, without your voice something essential is missing. Several of the African Union’s most ambitious initiatives, are designed to unshackle commercial activity and entrepreneurship. It is about providing a better quality of life to our citizens.”
President Kagame stated that more collaboration is needed between government and business as they both share the same goal of raising the wellbeing and prosperity of African citizens.
“There is much more we can do when we cooperate; first, as Africans, as we do through the African Union, and also with partners outside, some of whom we also have with us here.”
Rwanda is also invited to speak at the Health panel, which will focus on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), under the theme “Advancing Public Private Partnerships on Non-Communicable Diseases”.
Dubbed “Transform: Africa Business and Investment Forum”, the gathering is organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in collaboration with the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA).