KIGALI - The 8th meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), chaired by President Paul Kagame, ended yesterday with members vowing to dedicate their efforts towards vocational training and investment.  

The three-day forum aimed at discussing new approaches to drive Rwanda’s socio-economic growth, focusing on strategic investment and a renewed focus on vocational training.

Speaking to reporters shortly after the meeting yesterday, the Minister of Finance, John Rwangombwa, said that they discussed how to reap better results from various projects.

"On Tuesday, we toured several key investment projects and technical and vocational training institutions, so we presented the report on what we saw in the field and we discussed innovative ways to make the projects more productive,” Rwangombwa said.

The Minister noted that vocational training is one of the important areas that will facilitate the country’s rapid growth. Rwangombwa added that after assessing the on-going projects, they discussed new approaches that can help expedite their implementation.

"We also agreed on what we can do to get better results from the technical schools,” he noted.

The Finance Minister observed that it was not about completing investment projects but rather how they can produce better results for citizens.

Another PAC member, Kaia Miller from Boston, USA, said that their discussions were fruitful and will take the country forward.

"There is a lot of exciting things going on in technical and vocational schools, but few things need to be improved, like adding more programmes, equipment and getting better trained instructors and as well as English skills to further strengthen the schools,” she explained.

Miller pointed out that, creating technical and vocational training institutions is going to create a lot of opportunities, as well as serve the demand for specific skills that a lot of companies have.

Rwangombwa added that PAC members deliberated on how the government can get investors to venture into unfinished investment projects.In total, 14 PAC members attended the meeting.

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