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Kagame
Advisory Council
On Wednesday 26
September 2007,
President Paul
Kagame officially
launched the
Presidential
Advisory Council
(PAC) – a special
team of Rwandans and
friends of Rwanda
whose mission is to
advise the President
on Rwanda’s
strategic
development choices
and initiatives,
using their
considerable
combined and wide-ranging
knowledge,
experience and
contacts, in a
concerted effort to
contribute to the
country’s
socio-economic
development.
The inaugural PAC
meeting took place
in New York, where
President Kagame
took part in the
annual United
Nations General
Assembly and the
Clinton Global
Initiative.
Attending this first
discussion were PAC
members:
- Scott Ford –
president and CEO of
Alltel
- Sir Tom Hunter –
Scottish
entrepreneur,
philanthropist, co-founder
Clinton-Hunter
Development
Initiative
- Dr. Donald
Kaberuka – President
of the African
Development Bank
Group, former
Minister of Finance,
Rwanda
- Dr. Clet
Niyikiza –
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Vice President of
Worldwide Research &
Development
- Kaia Miller -
founder of Aslan
Global, Inc.
- Joe Ritchie -
Rwanda’s Honorary
Consul in Chicago,
founder Fox River
Financial Resources,
Inc.
- Micheal Roux -
Rwanda’s Honorary
Consul General in
Australia, Chairman,
Asian Markets, KPMG;
Roux International
Pty Ltd; RI Group;
- Bishop John
Rucyahana – Bishop
of Shyira Diocese of
Rwanda
- Tribert Rujugiro
– Rwandan
Entrepreneur, Board
President of Rwanda
Investment and
Export Promotion
Agency
- Dr. Eliane
Ubalijoro –
Assistant Professor
at McGill University,
Canada
- Pastor Rick
Warren - Religious
leader, founder
Saddleback Church,
and PEACE Plan
Liste à actualiser
avec Tony Blair et
cie
(Prof. Michael
Porter is also a
member of PAC but
was unable to
attend)
Also at the PAC
meeting were high-ranking
Rwandan government
officials including
James Musoni,
Minister of Finance
and Economic
Planning; Stanislas
Kamanzi, Minister of
Infrastructure;
Rosemary Museminari,
Minister of State
for Cooperation; and
Francis Gatare,
Director General of
Rwanda Investment
and Export Promotion
Agency.
Participants at the
meeting co-chaired
by President Kagame
and Joe Ritchie
discussed from their
unique perspectives,
various ides to
boost key areas of
Rwanda’s economy
based on the
country’s national
development policy
Vision 2020. At the
conclusion of the
vibrant dialogue
that lasted several
hours, PAC members
formed focal groups
that will delve
deeper into
innovative
strategies for
targeted sectors and
work with the
relevant Rwandan
institutions on
proposed solutions,
supported by RIEPA,
which was identified
as a coordinating
agency for PAC
activities
The next PAC meeting
will be held in
April 2008.
“A Thousand
Hills: Rwanda's
Rebirth and the Man
Who Dreamed It”, By:
Steve Kinzer
The bestselling
author of “All the
Shah’s Men” profiles
one of the most
successful
revolutionaries of
the modern era,
tells the dramatic
story of how he
seized power in
Rwanda, and travels
through the Rwandan
countryside to
witness this
shattered country's
astonishing recovery.
"A Thousand Hills"
tells Kagame's
tumultuous life
story, including his
early fascination
with Che Guevara and
James Bond, his
years as an
intelligence agent,
his training in Cuba
and the United
States, the
dazzlingly original
way he built his
secret rebel army,
his bloody rebellion,
and his outsized
ambitions for
Rwanda. It is the
adventure-filled
tale of a visionary
who won a war,
stopped a genocide,
and then set out to
turn his country
into the star of
Africa. President
Kagame is obsessed
with a single
outlandish dream: to
make Rwanda the
first middle-income
country in Africa,
and to do it in the
space of a single
generation.
The book will be
published in June by
John Wiley & Sons in
New York, according
to Rick Christian,
president of the
Colorado Springs-based
literary agency
Alive
Communications, who
negotiated the deal.
Stephen Kinzer is an
award-winning
foreign
correspondent who
has worked in more
than 50 countries on
five continents. He
has been New York
Times bureau chief
in Istanbul, Berlin,
and Managua,
Nicaragua. His other
books include the
bestsellers "All the
Shah’s Men: An
American Coup and
the Roots of Middle
East Terror" and "Overthrow:
America’s Century of
Regime Change from
Hawaii to Iraq."
Click here to
view books.
GlaxoSmithKline and
Clet Niyikiza
GlaxoSmithKline,
under the leadership
of Clet Niyikiza,
Vice President of
Strategic Asset
Management and
Biomarker Research
Program, is in the
process of
establishing a
National Center for
Clinical Research (NCCR)
based in Rwanda. GSK,
the second largest
pharmaceutical
company in the
world, is renowned
for its research and
development of drugs
to combat viruses
such as HIV/AIDS and
malaria in the
developing world.
The NCCR in Rwanda
will be an
internationally
acclaimed research
center, focusing on
the study of
diseases prevalent
throughout the
developing world and
at home. With the
help of a
Presidential Task
Force, Clet Niyikiza
along with the
Minister of Health
of Rwanda, are
working towards
establishing Rwanda
as a medical
research center of
the highest caliber.
As they started
looking for places
that might be
suitable for a
research center of
this kind, Clet said
that Rwanda easily
stood out among the
rest for its strong
governance, the
integrity of the
medical research
field, and the
quality of the
Rwandan people. With
the creation of the
NCCR, Rwanda will
become the epicenter
of clinical and
biomedical research
in the developing
world, as well as
significantly
expanding the
healthcare
infrastructure and
capacity across the
country. The NCCR
will also offer
strong financial
incentives to
participating
individuals and
health centers.
Saddleback
Church/PEACE Plan
Over the past three
years, Rick Warren
and Kay Warren,
along with hundreds
of members of
Saddleback Church,
have invested their
time in Rwanda with
the goals of
empowering local
church leaders and
supporting a variety
of development
initiatives. The
P.E.A.C.E. plan is a
coalition of local
churches working
alongside public and
private institutions
to address the
problems facing
Rwanda today. The
Western Rwanda
HIV/AIDS Healthcare
Initiative, a part
of P.E.A.C.E., aims
to “dramatically
increase access to
quality healthcare
in Western Rwanda…promoting
healthier lives,
preserving families,
protecting children,
and building
stronger communities.”
Based near the town
of Kibuye, the
western region was
chosen because of
its high occurrence
HIV/AIDS and the
lack of healthcare
professionals and
treatments to
effectively combat
the epidemic.
This initiative will
train churches to be
distributors of
basic health
services, as well as
equip fifty churches
to act as satellite
health centers; the
church of Rwanda
will be fully
empowered to behave
as a secondary
healthcare provider.
Relationships and
planning is in place
to expand and scale
this initiative
across the entire
country of Rwanda,
and eventually into
the bordering
countries of Congo,
Uganda, Tanzania and
Burundi. This
critical grassroots
program, along with
the ever-increasing
amount of positive
publicity
surrounding Rwanda,
promises to bring
life-enhancing
changes to the
people of Rwanda.
During the fall of
2007, Rick Warren
and team are also
implementing the “40
Days of Purpose
Nationwide Campaign”
throughout Rwanda,
using Purpose Driven
Life, written in
Kinyarwanda.
Jack Hanna
Jack Hanna, a world-renowned
wildlife expert and
enthusiast, recently
participated in a
rare gorilla naming
ceremony in the
Ruhengheri province
of Rwanda. With over
15,000 Rwandans in
attendance, as well
as celebrities like
Natalie Portman,
John Stanton (President
of Animal Planet)
and President Paul
Kagame, the
afternoon ceremony
named the newest of
the silverback
gorilla members and
brought worldwide
attention to Rwanda.
On October 26th at
9:00pm EST, a
special, “Saving a
Species: Gorillas on
the Brink,” aired on
Animal Planet
showcasing the
ceremony and
Rwanda’s unique
wildlife. Jack Hanna
has also spent
significant time
working with the
Mountain Gorilla
Veterinary Project
and Partners in
Conservation, both
of whom work to
support and protect
the gorilla
community in
northwest Rwanda.
Jack has long been
one of Rwanda’s
biggest and most
popular advocates.
Hanna continues to
work with Colin Bell
to establish one the
most prestigious
resorts in Africa,
located next to the
Rwandan National
Mountain Gorilla
Reserve. Mr. Bell’s
new venture will put
Rwanda on the map as
one of the premier
destinations in the
world. To learn more
about Jack’s time in
Rwanda
Click here |
