Prime Minister Dr. Edourad Ngirente has officially opened the second edition of Transform Africa Economic Forum taking place at Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda.
This Economic forum is being conducted on the sidelines of the ongoing 5th edition of Transform Africa Summit. More that 4000 delegates are at this facility attending the summit.
“I welcome you to Rwanda,” Dr. Ngirente told delegates Tuesday morning to officially set the ball rolling for a chain of engagements at the forum.
He reminded the delegates that the forum originates from the desire for African governments and the private sector to create a single continent-wide digital market.
Dr. Ngirente suggests that the African youth should be at the centre of exploiting this digital market. There are almost 140 million youth on the continent and by 2028, the African continent will be hosting almost one billion people under the age of 25.
“This young population presents an opportunity to optimize adoption of technologies as the younger generation is eager to embrace the digital era,” he said.
According to Ngirente, the youth should tap into opportunities presented by the digital market especially through creating start-ups which have significant role in economic development.
“Across the world, start-ups are currently being championed by the youth who are actively creating jobs and transforming their communities. They bring new ideas to the table, much needed to stimulate innovation and generate competition,” he noted.
The Prime Minister is optimistic that technology will be very instrumental in bridging several gaps to scale up integration of the continent much faster.
“Technology offers an opportunity to realize the integration of the continent faster and smarter. Technology also breaks the usual borders that have traditionally defined our countries.”
Rwanda which has been at the forefront of pushing for faster integration of the continent, aims at ensuring digital literacy for all youth (16 to 30 years) by 2024. Implementation of this program started in 2017.
“The objective of this program is to achieve digital literacy of at least 60% among adults by 2024,” Ngirente told delegates that the forum should go beyond conversations, “the collaboration and partnerships carry the potential to change the course of history of our continent.”
“It is now my pleasure to declare open this Economic Forum of the Transform Africa Summit. I thank you for your kind attention and wish you a productive and successful series of discussions and engagements,” Dr. Ngirente said.
