Kigali, 27 March 2018
President Kagame and President Macky Sall of Senegal today attended the Next Einstein Forum (NEF) global gathering on its second day, where they took part in a Leaders Panel themed “Laying the Groundwork for Knowledge-Led Economies”, where they shared their insight and vision for science in Africa.
President Kagame and President Macky Sall received the NEF Champions Award and also presented wards to 17 outstanding African scientists in all fields of science.
While appearing on the panel, President Kagame pledged that Rwanda would continue to invest time, energy and politics in science because he said the country would be losing if the Government failed to support the initiative for the benefit of the people.
“We invest in education and do what we can ourselves, and with partners, to encourage and incentivize science and avail opportunities for young people. We have encouraged ecosystem partnerships with academic institutions and the private sector to make sure young people’s ideas are encouraged and facilitated. Education is important for it benefits everyone in the country. We’re working on building both access for everyone and quality.
On his part, President Sall stated that despite Africa missing out on the industrial revolution, the continent had all it takes to catch up with the numerical revolution.
“For not being marginalized, if Africa was late for the industrial revolution, we have to catch up with the numerical revolution and we have capacity to do so. For example, we have created the mobile money transfer, a technology now heading to other continents. It is possible for Africa to reduce the North-South digital divide.”
During the forum in Kigali, a new scientific journal, Scientific African was launched as part of efforts to increase research output from the continent, which currently provides just two percent of all global research publications.