Why unity is strength for Africa

Paul Kagame said African nations are now coming together to seek cooperation in trade and investment.

The African nations are increasingly coming together and seeking to cooperate with each other in the fields of economy, trade and investments, the president of Rwanda said during a conference in Dubai on Wednesday.

"We are looking at bringing every African nation together to seek cooperation in trade and investment for mutual benefits of the people and communities. All the countries have the same feeling as they move forward. Firstly, the countries come together and then the communities follow for continental integration. We are beginning to see good progress," said Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, during the opening day of the Global Business Forum Africa.

In the last five to 10 years, the region has made substantial progress and realised a number of dreams such as the free movement of people within the continent.

"If you look at the East Africa region, even more progress has been realised in terms of customs union and integration in the areas of infrastructure, telecommunication network, railways, etc., bringing countries and communities together," Kagame said at the forum.

"In West Africa, countries have come together to handle the problem of gunmen. Countries have also come together to deal with the problems of Somalia under the African Union. We are working together to resolve security concerns," he added.

Kagame said the region also faces certain challenges related to politics. But countries in other continents face the same issues.

"There are problems that arise from things that happened several years ago. There are some political challenges that we are facing in Africa encountered in other countries too. We see Kenya has gone through difficulties. But Kenya is doing what it needs to do to resolve problems."

Highlighting the progress made in the information and technology sector in Rwanda, Innocent Muhizi, CEO, Information Society Authority, Rwanda, said his country is heading towards digitisation.

"Digitisation is where we have to go. It's not an option. In the last five years, we have seen significant transformation by laying 4,500km fibre optic cable and rolling out more than 60 e-government services. That is where we are heading and prioritising digital government services. Now, people are paying taxes electronically. We are going for e-procurement and courts are going online too," Muhizi said during a panel discussion at the Global Business Forum Africa.

"Young businessmen are doing work in Africa that they were not able to do five years ago due to digital transformation and increased adoption of technology. When you come to Rwanda, you get an online visa. We are exploring new technologies such as artificial intelligence and Blockchain," he added.

- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com