2016 will always be remembered as the year of "firsts” where many groundbreaking achievements were registered.

Perhaps the crowning moment was successfully hosting two international summits; the World Economic Forum and the 27th African Union Summit.

No one was in a better position to give points to the AU Summit than its head, Dr Dlamini Zuma, who tweeted that it was the "best ever held”.

The AU summit went even a step further when it appointed President Paul Kagame to spearhead much needed reforms in the AU Commission. It was definitely a vote of confidence that the architect of Rwanda’s rebirth could do the same miracle with the organization.

To put the icing on the cake, the summit was held in the sparkling architectural gem that is the Kigali Convention Centre, completed just a short time before the summit.

The country also continued with its good showing in many world rankings, from being one of the best countries for a girl to grow up in, to one of the fastest growing economies.

It also changed the perception for drones, those unmanned aircraft synonymous with raining death from the skies. In Rwanda, it was a pioneer life saving scheme to supply needed medical supplies such as blood and vaccines to the most remote places in the country.

And of course RwandAir continued conquering the African skies and this year it aims to spread its wings to Europe, North America and Asia, on top of adding other African cities.

It has indeed been a remarkable year and all the achievements would not have happened without the mantra of hard work, sacrifice and the never-say-die attitude of its people.

May the coming year bring more "firsts” and open new frontiers and turn this miracle country into a template for others to copy.

Happy New Year.