President Paul Kagame has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate in public policy and management by South Korea’s Yonsei University.
This took place on Wednesday, June 5, in Seoul, South Korea, on the side-lines of the Korea-Africa Summit, an event that brought together delegations from African countries and key figures from Korean and international business communities to discuss cooperation.
An honorary degree is an academic degree – for which a university waives the usual degree requirements – often conferred as a way of honoring a distinguished person's contributions to a specific field or to society in general.
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"I would like to thank you for the tremendous honour you have bestowed on me and my country with the award of this honorary doctorate,” Kagame said after receiving the honorary doctorate.
"This is my fourth visit to Korea but my first to the Yonsei campus, I wish that our connection had started much earlier,” he added.
Founded in 1885, Yonsei University is a private higher learning institution that ranks among the top three universities in Korea. It is home to 178 research centres.
"Yonsei clearly ranks among the world’s finest universities and I am very proud for Rwanda to be associated with your institution,” Kagame said.
On Tuesday, June 4, in his remarks at the Korea-Africa Summit, Kagame said the African continent and the east Asian country should work together in the development of artificial intelligence and robotics, as well as energy transition and nuclear technology.
"Korea and Africa have been relating together positively and productively,” he said.
"Korea is a global pivotal state, and Africa is a pivotal continent. It is only natural for us to draw closer together, in the years ahead, for many reasons,” he added.
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He noted that partnerships with Korea have focused on innovation, which helped to bring the latest technologies to Rwanda and Africa more quickly.
"This Summit serves to remind us that even more can be done. From artificial intelligence and robotics, to small modular nuclear reactors, to driving the energy transition with critical raw materials, Africa and Korea should be working side-by-side,” he pointed out.