Istanbul, 27 November 2012

President Kagame arrived in Istanbul, Turkey today where he will address the Global Infrastructure Initiative (GII) on the Role of Infrastructure in Socio-Economic Transformation on Wednesday. In a keynote speech, President Kagame will outline steps Rwanda has taken to improve the kind of infrastructure that will ensure economic growth and decrease poverty.

Convened by McKinsey and Company in partnership with TIME Magazine, CNBC and Albright Stonebridge Group, will be held under the theme “Rethink Infrastructure.”

The three day event brings together practitioners from the private sector, politics and non-governmental organization to engage in an unprecedented exchange of ideas and debate based on global best practices and innovative approaches.

To date, Africa invests $45 million per year invested in infrastructure and substantial strides towards sustainable infrastructure have been made by African leaders to transform their nations into modern economies. However, the gap is still large with $48 million remaining to adequately solve the problem of infrastructure on the continent.

The Global Infrastructure Initiative is the first of its kind and plans to launch a global debate that will seek innovative solutions on how to plan, operate, build and finance the infrastructure required to support a world that is growing to 9 billion people.