The Ministry of Youth and ICT has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Information Society Agency (NIA) of the Republic of Korea to prop up Rwanda’s information and communication technology sector through accelerating Smart Rwanda 2020 master plan implementation.

The MoU will particularly facilitate the establishment of the second information access centre facility at the University of Rwanda, mainly to advance youth innovation.

It will also enable a number of voluntary-based projects in terms of knowledge and skills sharing which are all aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two countries.

Speaking during the signing ceremony in Kigali, yesterday, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the minister for youth and ICT, said Korea and Rwanda maintain strong bilateral relations and described the new MoU as another milestone that would further strengthen relations in various sectors of economy.

"The signing marks another step of National Information Society Agency and the strong commitment of Korea toward Rwanda’s digital transformation and delivering on the vision of smart Rwanda and indeed smart Africa,” he said.

"It also marks the commitment to support the second information access centre. Since the first one was implemented, a lot has been achieved and now we are moving from being the users of information to producers of application.”

Nsengimana said the Government was looking forward to using the facility in its premiere education institution to advance youth innovation to start producing content and applications.

The MoU will also facilitate exchange of knowledge and skills where a number of voluntary programmes will be established and Korean voluntary ICT experts will be coming to Rwanda to interact with students.

Knowledge-based society

Byungo-Jo Suh, the president of NIA, said: "Today marks the official status of cooperation between NIA and the Ministry of Youth and ICT for Rwanda Information Society Authority, which is to be established to lead ICT development in Rwanda. This is part of building cooperation between government, agencies and universities of Korea and Rwanda for development of ICT field.”

Byungo-Jo said, with the world going through an ICT convergence in diverse areas through such initiatives as smart city, smart factory, smart farm, among others, there is a need to recognise that building a knowledge-based society enables creation of new industries and increases national competitiveness.

He said the partnership will ensure successful sharing of the firm’s experience and expertise with the rest of Rwandans.

"I would like to also express our commitment to support Rwanda’s ICT development with all the technology and know-how we possess, based on the partnership cooperation channel between Korea and Rwanda,” Byungo-Jo said.

"We will also work to make knowledge and technology sharing experience with Rwanda a model for expanding cooperation with other African countries,”

Under the Smart Rwanda Master Plan, Rwanda seeks to attract more private led investments and youth innovations to create more jobs, but also to contribute to Africa’s broader digital transformation agenda through smart Africa.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw