Rwandans in UK.com

President Paul Kagame, who attended the ceremony, expressed Rwanda’s readiness to take advantage of existing opportunities that include trade, education and culture.

Addressing a gathering which included the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Patrick Manning, who is also the chair-in-office and the Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, President Paul Kagame thanked the Commonwealth group for accepting Rwanda’s entry and pledged the country’s active and fully integrated role in the club.

“Rwanda recognizes the strengths of these partnerships – this is why we greatly value our membership in the Commonwealth, like we do with other organizations,” Kagame said.

“As the newest member of the Commonwealth, Rwanda is prepared to establish stronger bonds with fellow members in a number of important areas”.

Kagame added that by associating with other countries in several areas, through sharing common values, Rwanda is able to learn from others and build on its own home-grown solutions for a brighter future.

“Firstly, the future of all nations depends on their youth, and so I hope that Rwanda can capitalise on the wide range of education and training programmes that the Commonwealth provides.

“Secondly, we hope to tap into the trade and investment opportunities that the Commonwealth offers, so that Rwanda can expand its economy and effectively participate in the global marketplace,” Kagame observed.

He noted that, at the same time in the context of mutual learning, Rwanda will also play its role in sharing her successful experiences, not only from its recent past, but also its traditions and culture.

“Rwanda is committed to the values of the Commonwealth and will contribute to strengthening the organisation, furthering our mutual development agendas, and working in close partnership with other members to promote prosperity, freedom and rights for all,” Kagame asserted.

Shortly after the flag raising ceremony, President Kagame, alongside Prime Minister Manning and Sharma, addressed a news conference.

Manning defended the idea of countries joining various blocs or organisations, arguing that there are particular interests that may arise.

Secretary General Sharma, formally welcomed Rwanda into the group and pledged the Commonwealth’s commitment to engage with Rwanda in various areas of development.

“I think the gods agreed, Mr President, that this is a very special occasion, and we look forward to installing your membership formally here,” Sharma told President Kagame.

“I just want to say that from now on, we are going to have a very dense roadmap of collaboration with Rwanda, in which I, myself, and the two Deputy Secretaries-General who are present here, will be personally engaged in carrying it forward,” he said.

Sharma said that the Commonwealth already has an electoral commission to conduct civic education, train journalists and engage in many of the areas that are coming up, adding that his recent interaction with officials in the areas of audit, women, youth, human rights, budget and others will provide an action plan.

Ends

This was announced Tuesday after members of the Diaspora toured rural communities in the district at the end of the just concluded fourth Diaspora Global Convention in Kigali.

“We don’t have a concept plan for it yet but, in the course of this week, we will meet with Bugesera officials and work on it. We have agreed with them to sign a partnership on all other poverty alleviation initiatives and, we will bring in investors from abroad,” Gustave Karara, the head of the Rwanda Diaspora Global Network (RDGN) told The New Times on phone yesterday.

The delegation said it would build the houses in Rilima sector, Bugesera district.

Former Miss France 2000, Sonia Rolland, born to a Rwandan mother, recently promised to be the country’s ambassador and also announced plans to set up a vocational school for orphans of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Rolland said her charity organization ‘Maisha Africa’ will look for sponsors in France to bankroll the project.

Rolland’s organization has already constructed 12 houses for orphans of the Genocide in Kimironko.  She has also flown in a medical team to study the country’s health situation and see how they can help as well as train Rwandan surgeons.

On Monday, RDGN also officially handed over the One Dollar Campaign money and files to the project beneficiaries – the Association of Student Survivors of the Genocide (AERG), after a eight-month fundraising campaign that managed to raise over Rwf 1 billion.

Reported by The New Times

The upcoming Diaspora convention slated for December 13-15 in Kigali will see Diaspora members elect their leaders and come up with strategies on mobilisation of savings for investing back home.

The convention is organized jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Diaspora General Directorate (DGD) and Rwanda Diaspora Global Network (RDGN).

The convention will focus on electing new leaders since RDGN has been under an interim and transitional leadership since December 2008.

The convention is supposed to meet every two years to receive reports, conduct elections and carryout any other activities proposed by the Global council.

The Diaspora has been an instrumental network to mobilize financial resources, skills, knowledge transfer, image building and promotion of culture.

The event will be organized under the theme;  “Integrating the Rwandan Diaspora into national development strategies for the benefit of all.”

“Special attention will be attached to mobilizing savings in the Diaspora for investment promotion in Rwanda – it will be the right opportunity to launch the Rwandan Diaspora Mutual Fund (RDMF),” reads part of the memo issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

RDMF is a newly established initiative by the Diaspora that will be a driving arm for mobilizing savings from abroad.

“It will also be  an opportunity for DGD to discuss with Rwandan Diaspora future operational plans and strategies targeted to mobilize, coordinate and integrate Rwandan Diaspora in the national development of Rwanda .”

Rwandans living abroad will also be mobilized and sensitized on national unity and security, in addition to being briefed on the progress of preparing for 2010 Presidential elections.

Reported by the New Times

Gov’t to ease property acquisition for the Diaspora

BY EDMUND KAGIRE

The meeting aimed at streamlining the process, especially within Kigali City, and take advantage of the massive demand for housing and property by Rwandans living abroad and increase their interest to invest in the country.

Addressing the stakeholders, who included Kigali City authorities, real estate developers, property consultants and banks, the Director General of DGD, Robert Masozera, said that Rwandans in the Diaspora have shown interest and potential to invest and acquire property in the country, but get frustrated by the process and lack of adequate information.

“They send us requests all the time, but what they lack is the facilitation to acquire housing plots or information on finished houses or who they should consult if they want to develop property.”

“They also don’t know the sources of financing or even how they can transfer their money to Rwanda for financing construction of their real estate, and I think any financial institution can tap into such an opportunity,” Masozera said.

During the meeting, stakeholders developed a framework that will facilitate and make it easy for the Diaspora to acquire land and housing without any problems while financial institutions also agreed to provide ‘special mortgage products’ that will encourage them to acquire property back home.

Kigali City Council officials noted that before coming up with any policies, there is a need for commitment from both sides; because at times the Diaspora have taken advantage of the offer to acquire land which they later fail to develop.

Vice Mayor, Alphonse Nizeyimana, citied about 52 plots of land that were given to Diaspora members who had promised to develop them but later reneged on their promise.

Developers like the Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR), DN International and Real Contractors, noted that their housing units located in Gaculiro, Kabuga, Masaka and Rusororo are designed to suit the needs of the Diaspora and promised to avail all necessary information through the Diaspora Directorate

Among other things, it was agreed in the policy guidelines that banks also streamline the financing process to enable Rwandans in the Diaspora access credit facilities while construction companies and property consultants were also advised to cash-in on the huge potential.

According to Nathan Lloyd of DN International, the high cost of housing units in high-end estates targeted by Rwandans in the Diaspora is due to the high development costs because of their ‘all inclusive’ nature.

“As said before, our houses are new and we focus on the Diaspora demand. In terms of the pricing, in our case, we import about 90 percent of our construction materials and this has a bigger effect on the cost and at the same time, our products are demand driven.”

Stakeholders also complained about a number of bills or draft laws on property acquisition and ownership such as the condominium law-some of which have delayed to be signed, passed or published in the National Gazette which hampers the process of acquiring houses or land.

It was agreed that such bills are fast tracked to ease the process while all the necessary information on land and housing will be availed to Diaspora members through the DGD and several websites.

Rwandans in the Diaspora remain one of the leading sources of foreign exchange through remittances and director money transfers. They contributed about $150m in 2008.

Reported by the New Times