 Hi, good afternoon everybody and you're very welcome to the Institute of International European Affairs by Andrews, my name is Director General and we're very honored to be joined by her Excellency Amina Caritani who is the non-resident ambassador of Rwanda to Ireland and we're very much looking forward to her presentation in a short while but just for a quick introduction, Roy DeBerker, Director General of Irish Aid will just make a few comments and just ask you all to remind you that while the comments are on the record the Q&A as usual will be under the Chatham House rule. Please switch your phones to silent if you will but feel free to tweet at IAEA. So Rory, thank you. Thanks Barry and thanks to the IAEA. It's my pleasure to introduce Ambassador Yamina Caritani to talk to us about on the topic of good governance and sustainable development. It's something that we talk about a lot here but it's really important I think that we get Rwanda's perspective on that because Rwanda has traveled a very particular journey over the last 25 years or so from the horrors of the genocide to the effect of rebuilding our building of a country which in many ways is a shining light and notwithstanding the fact that Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in Africa although the most densely populated you know it's managed to evolve some very interesting models of development and is a very different place in many ways to the country that seared itself in our imagination and into the lives of so many millions of people in Rwanda 25 years ago and I think it's good for us to kind of take stock of those changes and also to hear perspectives as we think through how we engage with Africa in the broadest sense you know through our trade and investment relationships through our development cooperation which we're thinking about the next phase thereof and also as at a time when the EU is evolving its relationship with Africa on a number of levels including the new post-cott new negotiations the migration lens and there are very different perspectives in Africa around migration to those in Europe we like to think we have a slightly different perspective on migration to other countries in Europe as well but it would be interesting to see where we meet on that but also that question of sustainable development it's one that we all share in the context of the SDGs to 2030 and it's one where we don't have all of the answers in fact I don't know even know if we have all of the questions and I think as we think not just about our relationship with Africa but our relationship with ourselves there'd be very interesting perspectives from which we can earn some looking very much forward to hearing your discussion today ambassador you're very welcome Thank you very much Rory and I'll just introduce the the ambassador ambassador Karitani has been the High Commissioner for the Republic of Wanda to the United Kingdom and non-resident ambassador to Ireland since December 2015 prior to her posting in London from April 2014 she was at the helm of the tourism and conservation portfolios at the Rwandan Development Board the government's agency mandated with fast-tracking economic development in the country she was appointed High Commissioner for the Republic of Rwanda to the Republic of Kenya stationed in Nairobi in May 2012 having previously served as Minister-Councillor at the mission since August 2010 so you're very welcome thank you good afternoon thank you very much Rory and Barry I'm pleased to join you today this afternoon after sharing a wonderful lunch with some of you and to add my voice to this important conversation but first let me commend the work that the Institute of International and European Affairs continues to do in providing a platform to discuss global and critical issues shaping the world I have no doubt that the subjects deliberated here play a critical role in shaping strategic policy decisions benefiting Ireland the region and indeed the world I was asked to speak on good governance and sustainable development two key ingredients which move nations from poverty to prosperity I'll start with Rwanda a country many only heard of in 94 when a million of our citizens were slaughtered in just 100 days as the world watched some hoping it was just a nightmare that will go away unfortunately it was not a nightmare the dead were counted buried and Rwandans had to wake up to a new reality the killings had stopped but what was next when we speak of the genocide against the Tutsi we rightly focus on the million-plus lost lives but the damage was much more pronounced we had a stagnating economy which had shrunk by 50 percent a 64 percent inflation a 78 percent poverty rate an overwhelming number of displaced persons more than a hundred and forty thousand genocide suspects in overcrowded prisons the entire socioeconomic fabric was destroyed and the infrastructure was equally dilapidated a complete restart was required but we also had a huge capacity gaps and very weak institutional framework in fact 96 percent of our civil servants had no higher education so the war was over but we needed a recipe for peace a series or develop of a series of development a series of development strategies were started and vision 2020 was implemented vision 2020 is the vision that we started applying in 2000 to reach middle income status by 2020 the three strict stages that we applied were started with recovery recovery from post-conflict obviously from 2000 to 2006 focusing on social sectors health education poverty reduction as well then the second stage was preparing to take off focusing on high poverty reduction reducing inequality improving growth high growth which reached 8.2 percent between 2008 and 2012 and also focus on strong contribution to achieving MDGs the third stage was a focus on rapid growth which between 2012 and 2000 and to now is averaging a 11.5 percent and focusing on fast poverty reduction closing trade balance with higher exports and increase private sector investment but as a saying goes if you want to improve it you need to measure it and if you cannot measure it you cannot improve it and so the leadership measured each one of the stages mentioned above making necessary adjustments to ensure success using the Rwanda governance eight pillars scorecard the pillars that are measured include or are the rule of law political rights and civil liberties participation and inclusiveness safety and security investment in human and social development control of corruption quality and service delivery as well as economic and corporate governance each of these eight pillars include key indicators which would then be further measured further measured with an objective of proposing key recommendations to be implemented the implementation is then carefully monitored with mid reviews so as to adjust plans as needed Rwanda's achievements to date were mainly driven by homegrown solutions and innovation which was drawn from the Rwandan culture we looked inward and adopted the kind of changes that our citizens would naturally embrace we worked to achieve economic and social transformation using transformational governance with focus on promoting Rwandan values and culture promoting unity and reconciliation contributing to peace and security globally in fact Rwanda is now the second largest contributor to UN peacekeeping missions and we also focused on fighting corruption increasing tax collection as well as foreign direct investment today Rwanda ranks as the seventh most efficient government globally we score high in doing business reports in fact Rwanda emerged as a top reformer in the history of the World Bank doing business reforms and is second easiest place to do business in Africa only second to Mauritius additionally Rwandan's sea security organs as a source of public good Rwanda is the safest country in Africa we have the highest representation of women in parliament in the world 61 percent and women constitute 50 percent of cabinet we have graduated from a 90 percent dependence on foreign aid to about 16 percent today and so the principle of self reliance is one of our guiding values the youth particularly is meant to use education and innovation to become job creators rather than job seekers distinguished ladies and gentlemen on the subject of aid Rwanda has benefited from it and we are thankful for it but we also believe that it serves the citizens well if aid is efficiently delivered both donors and recipients should include in their planning that aid comes with an expiry date the conversation therefore needs to focus on sustaining development which means a shift from aid to working together on a post aid era a transition period more likely to affect real change grow the economy create employment and indeed benefit all stakeholders therefore strategic discussions should include in the case of Africa how to translate mineral wealth and human capital into prosperity according to OECD Africa lost just last year 63 billion US dollars through trade mispricing and other illicit financial flows which is more than foreign aid and direct investment combined 55 percent of this 63 billion end up in developing countries so in effect taking global action against illicit financial flows would produce more impactful results that we could ever see with aid alone additionally government sorry this one aspect which global systems should improve on as this is one aspect that global system should improve on as it will resolve some of the acute challenges such as migration additionally government should adopt a citizen-centered approach to governance so we do agree we have to do our homework as well for us to allow for the strengthening of the private sector which would then would attract foreign investment to borrow the words of donald caberuca former africa development bank president and former finance minister of ronda at the launch of the london school of economics an oxford commission on state fragility he said and i quote escaping fragility is by necessity a slow step by step an often imperfect process international support will be needed but the chances of success are higher if the country and its people are in the driver's seat the first step is security which requires a large degree of locally led rebuilding of trust top down donald led approaches with at times and realistic tight timetables have not produced ending results early efforts will be needed to revive the local private sector which is often the lifeline for families and communities when the state can no longer assure its basic core functions confidence generated by domestic businesses is what will spur foreign investment not vice versa i would like to add to this quote that when we discuss ending poverty we must touch on the issues beyond a given nation's control which perpetuate poverty as well i often think about the fact that africa can export tomatoes but not tomato sauce to europe and that gold and other high value minerals are in abundance in africa but not refineries and so even when the best leadership is delivering tremendous progress we must admit that the kind that the global community must act with intent to support sorry let me repeat that phrase because it's important so even when the best leadership is delivering tremendous progress we must admit that the global community must act with intent to support sustainable growth the kind which reduces trade imbalance oftentimes we find ourselves entangled into an forgiving web of complex economic pact favoring those who already have an economic advantage and punishing the ones hoping to improve their manufacturing industries and adding value to their export of course africa has to play its part and i believe that with initiatives such as the improvement being implemented at the africa union level reforms which will produce an a u fit for purpose serving the interests of the 1.2 billion citizens of africa with a combined gdp of more than three trillion pounds starting with the africa continental free trade area and enhancing movement of goods and services within the continent as we stand africa is the sole remaining continent which trades more with the outside than with itself reversing that trend will bring sustainable development we therefore know what to do and we hope that focusing on transforming the africa union to respond to the needs of its citizens creating an efficient a u is not only good for africa but equally good for this global village that we share the president of ronda president poca gamé who chairs the reforms team will continue focusing on this important value proposition which if well implemented could redefine africa's standing in the world and again offer better lasting solutions to crises on the continent such as the migration crisis i thank you very much for your kind attention and i hope we can further converse in the q&a session thank you very much