From March 29 to April 1, the country will host a Commonwealth Forum on Media and Economic Development, organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in partnership with the government.

Local and international media practitioners will have the opportunity to engage in a dialogue on media development and professionalism. They will also discuss political and economic development in Rwanda.

The forum is one of several avenues that our government has promoted to facilitate the development of the media industry in Rwanda. The efforts also help equip local journalists, with the necessary professional competence that is vital to media development in the country.

Rwanda’s turbulent political history before and during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi played a negative role to undermine the development of the media and instead used the industry to propagate hate and genocide.

However, the current government has demonstrated the political will to facilitate a professional media that plays its proper and responsible-constructive role, alongside other institutions in the country’s development and democratization process.

The commonwealth forum, without doubt, aims at helping our media practitioners play their role with professionalism and responsibility. It is incumbent upon the local media fraternity to seize such opportunities and gain more competence and professionalism in order to further the ideals of a responsible, professional and free press.

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