Toronto, 28 September 2013

President Kagame is in Toronto, Canada where he will address the fifth edition of Rwanda Day bringing together over three thousand Rwandans living in Canada and the United States to celebrate their unifying culture and renew their commitment to the country’s progress.

Themed Agaciro: Investing in our Future, the event will focus on the next chapter of Rwanda’s development and how the country will achieve its ambition of becoming a middle-income country by 2020.

Rwanda Day comes shortly after the government announced the second phase of its Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2), which, over the next five years, targets economic growth of 11.5 per cent per annum and to reduce poverty to under 30 per cent. Through the previous strategy, 1 million Rwandans lifted themselves out of poverty, as the economy grew by more than 8 per cent each year.

This year, the country also launched a landmark Eurobond, which was more than 300 times oversubscribed. It signaled to Rwanda’s intention to become a modern and dynamic economy, which is increasingly interconnected to global markets.

As well as celebrating Rwanda’s social economic transformation, the event also seeks to bring together Rwandans to discuss new ideas about how to sustain this.