About 400 delegates drawn from various local institutions, business community, ICT stakeholders as well as foreign participants are expected to attend the second edition of Smart Rwanda Days meeting slated for October 2 in Kigali.

This year’s edition of Smart Rwanda Days will be held under the theme, "Digitising Rwanda.”

The two-day conference is set to be a buildup to the country’s last five years of the Vision 2020 agenda to transform the country into a knowledge-based economy.

President Paul Kagame and International Telecommunications Union secretary-general Hamadoun Toure are expected to address the conference that is organised by the Ministry of Youth and ICT in collaboration with Rwanda Development Board and Rwanda Utility Regulatory Authority.

Speaking to journalists at his office in Kigali, yesterday, the Minister for Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, said the meeting will go beyond convening ICT stakeholders and bring together actors in various sectors to consider ways through which the country can leverage ICT to accelerate economic growth and competitiveness.

"The meeting will convene actors from across all areas of development to discuss what we could do better to accelerate toward a knowledge-based economy,” Nsengimana said.

"We will look back at what we have achieved in the last 15 years as well as the target which is only five years away.”

Smart Rwanda Master Plan

The minister said the different sessions to be held will present an opportunity to disclose the Smart Rwanda Master Plan and take into account inputs and comments from stakeholders.

"The master plan is yet to be completed, what we have as of now is a draft that is yet to be presented to cabinet; the meeting will be an opportunity to get inputs and contributions on how to make the master plan more effective,” the minister said.

Other outcomes from the conference, according to the minister, will be partnerships that will bring about collaborations in terms of investments and renewed focus and momentum in investment promotion as delegates will have a chance to see firsthand the economic activity, political support and business environment.

Minister Nsengimana said although it is not intended to be an international gathering as it was initiated to bring together local stakeholders, there was need to bring on board foreign delegates as the country does not work in isolation.

The deliberations will explore areas such as digital payments, Internet governance, Internet economy, open data content localisation and digital innovation.

During the last two quarters, the ICT sector was said to contribute about 2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product ahead of agriculture and mining exports combined.

The 2 per cent contribution to GDP is beyond Africa’s average, which stands at 1.1 per cent, while in advanced economies, ICT contribution to GDP stands at 3.7 per cent.

The sector has also attracted about 45 per cent of total Foreign Direct Investments.