Seoul, 2 December 2011

This Friday marked the last day of President Kagame’s working visit to South Korea where earlier this week, the President delivered his keynote address at the fourth High Level Meeting on Aid effectiveness in Busan.

As part of his official activities in the country, President Kagame was hosted to a business breakfast by the Far East Broadcasting Companies. The breakfast was attended by a number of high profile political, business and opinion leaders, among them Kim, Young-Sam, former President of the Republic of Korea.

In his remarks, President Kagame pointed out that Rwanda has a lot to learn from Korea and that in many ways, the two countries can benefit from the existing cordial relationship and partnerships.

“The transformation your country has gone through has great lessons for my country and Africa. Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the industries and I can say that what I saw was very constructive in the context of transformation of the country and what Rwanda and Africa need to pursue. What this means is that there is a need for coordination between Governments and Business leaders for many of these things to happen. In Rwanda we support the Private sector to be the leader of our social and economic transformation.”

President Kagame encouraged business leaders to consider Africa as a serious investment destination, pointing out that there are plenty of business opportunities to benefit from:

“It against this backdrop that I wish to extend our invitations to the leaders of this country and most especially business leaders so that we can invest together; we in Rwanda have prepared an environment that enables easy absorb of investments that come from all over the world. I wish to invite Korean businesses to come to Rwanda where you will find good partnerships and will and through that partnership you find it easier to spread to the rest of East Africa and the continent.”

Rwanda’s Ambassador to Korea described the meetings as an important opportunity to meet people who are critical in marketing Rwanda in Korea.