We are honoured in Rwanda to co-host the Connect Africa Summit with the International Telecommunication Union. Gathering in Kigali for this meeting are key partners in African development including African governments, the African Union, the African Development Bank, the World Bank Group and the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development, as well as leading corporations.

It is clear that Africa has fallen behind in making use of science and technology including ICT to spur development and create prosperity. Our cities remain unconnected – to say nothing of rural Africa. Plans to link our continent with the rest of the world remain largely unrealised. Requisite policies, standards, as well as regulatory frameworks have yet to be fully developed and harmonized. In addition, human capacities to drive ICT as a tool for development remain meagre.

The Connect Africa Summit signals the departure from this current bleak reality. We are presented with an unprecedented opportunity to seriously commit our countries and continent to a focused roadmap that will lay the foundation for taking advantage of ICT to spark economic growth, employment and development.

At the end of this conference, we must equip ourselves with a strategy to address each of the noted shortcomings. Most importantly, we must have a clear plan to ensure that we act quickly to realise the goals that we set here. Rwanda is fully committed to playing our role in this endeavour

I welcome to Rwanda all distinguished government and private sector leaders, development finance institutions, regional communities, academia and civil society organisations. Together, we will forge at this Kigali meeting, a solid partnership for realising Africa’s vision of improving the lives of our people through the power of ICT.

Paul Kagame
President of the Republic of Rwanda