The agenda of the 17th National Leadership Retreat, commonly known as Umwiherero (retreat), will mainly focus on shaping the country in line with Vision 2050, the Minister in the President’s Office, Judith Uwizeye said on Saturday, February 15.

Approximately 400 people from the Government, private sector, youth and friends of Rwanda will be part of this four-day retreat that will kick-off Sunday, February 16.

Participants on Saturday, February 15 departed to Rwanda Defence Force Combat Training Centre in Gabiro, Gatsibo District, where the retreat will take place.

Uwizeye noted that this year’s retreat will be an opportunity to see what needs to be done so as to achieve vision 2050.

"This retreat comes as our country has phased out vision 2020, aiming at vision 2050,” she said, adding that: "In our discussions, we will emphasize on aligning our way of work with vision 2050- which has big targets and requires hard work.”

Under the vision, Rwanda has targeted to achieve an upper-middle-income status by 2035 and a high-income status (USD12, 000 annual per capita income) by 2050.

To achieve the above, it will require average annual growth of above 10% from the current 7.5 percent average growth over the last few years.

Uwizeye also reiterated that: "the retreat will see different challenges in the education and health sector, among others, tackled, as the country also looks at how to attract more investments and continue engaging the private sector in the development course.”

Yvette Ishimwe, Managing Director of Iriba Water Group, a local enterprise that offers authentic innovative solutions to scarcity of clean water in Rwanda, is among the people who will be participating in Umwiherero for the first time.

Given this opportunity as a promising young entrepreneur, she told The New Times that this serves as an opportunity for her to explore the country’s targets.

"I am happy to be part of this delegation, and I think this will be an opportunity for me to extensively know the country’s agenda and what is expected from me as an entrepreneur so as to achieve these targets.

The National Leadership Retreat was drawn from a tradition in Rwandan culture whereby leaders would convene to reflect on issues affecting their communities, and resolutions are made after every retreat since 2014 so as to ensure accountability.