President opens third donors' conference

President Paul Kagame opened the country's third donor's conference on Wednesday, saying that although the proportion of Rwandans living below the poverty line had dropped from 70 percent to 59 percent, the figure was still unacceptably high.

"This is why reducing poverty remains our primary goal, to which we must all deploy all our energies in the months and years ahead," he said.

Kagame urged the participants of the conference, being held in the capital, Kigali, to examine fiscal and debt sustainability, because, he said, these constituted the "major challenges" to gaining access to finance for poverty reduction programmes and economic development

He told the participants that his government recognised that good governance was a prerequisite to attracting economic investment and that, as such, Rwanda subscribed to the African Peer Review Mechanism. Under this mechanism, continental leaders are to review each others' progress in the areas of political and economic transparency, respect for human rights, and democracy. The mechanism is contained in the New Partnership for Africa's Development programme, a blueprint for the continent's economic revival.

Rwanda's constitution-making process would, he said, be complete in 2003, to be followed by a referendum and presidential and parliamentary elections.

The three-day conference will review Rwanda's economic performance in 2002, and examine the outlook for 2003. Participants will debate implementation of the government's poverty reduction and national investment strategies, as well as the demobilisation of former combatants and their reintegration into society.

Discussions will also centre on agriculture, rural development, land use and the environment, water, transport, communications, energy, information technology, education, health, youth, and private sector development, these being the priority areas of the country's poverty reduction strategy, crafted in 2000.