KIGALI - The 8th National Dialogue (Umushyikirano) bringing together representatives of the central and local government, legislators, the private sector, civil society, religious leaders, development partners, Rwandan Diaspora as well as Diplomatic corps  will kick off today at the Parliamentary buildings.

Key on the agenda this year will be assessing the country’s progress and plotting new strategies that will guide the country towards a fast-tracked development path, as well as evaluating the implementation of the recommendations from last year’s dialogue.

According to the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Protais Musoni, the 2010 National Dialogue, whose theme will rotate around service delivery, will touch on various issues related to the socio-economic development.

"As you know the National Dialogue will bring together different leaders from the government and the private sector. It will be chaired by President Paul Kagame. The whole purpose of it will be to debate national issues,” Musoni said.

"Apart from the President giving the meeting the direction and receiving the report of implementation of the previous resolutions from the Prime Minister, we will have several panels including, governance, the economic affairs and social affairs which will bring critical issues to the debate.”

Musoni added that Governance will dominate, where challenges to good governance will be identified and what needs to be done to improve governance and service delivery.

"We will also assess how far we have gone in uprooting the genocide ideology in our society. We will have the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission present to us the Social cohesion barometer so that we know where we are,” Musoni said. 

He added that on the economy platform, the economic performance and agricultural production will dominate the debate.

Musoni called on Rwandans to closely follow and participate in the dialogue. It is designed to be interactive, with provision for a live call-in telephone line and a direct SMS line. The dialogue will also be streamed live, especially for Rwandans in the Diaspora. 

The proceedings will be streamed on http://www.umushyikirano.gov.rw/ and www.orinfor.gov.rw .