RWANDA

STATEMENT BY h.e. mr ALBERT BUTARE
MINISTER OF STATE IN CHARGE OF ENERGY AND COMMUNICATIONS

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of the Government and People of Rwanda, allow me to record our sincere condolences to the Government and People of Turkey for the sudden loss of the former Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Bulent EJEVIT. We also wish to register our compliments to the Government and People of Turkey for the exemplary hospitality and successful hosting of this historic Plenipotentiary Conference. Mr. Chairman, this being our first time to have the floor, may I also take the opportunity to congratulate you on your election to Chair this Conference.

As distinguished delegations will know, Rwanda is an emerging economy, having been ravaged by the tragic genocide and war that came to a stop in 1994, just about the same time that the Third Plenipotentiary Conference was held in Kyoto. We want to most sincerely thank the entire ITU fraternity for their solidarity and compassion shown during and after that conference; that even though Rwanda was not in attendance at the Conference because of these upheavals, the Hon. Member States and Sector Members of the Union resolved to support Rwanda in its reconstruction process. The Kyoto Resolution (No. 34) was further deepened in 1998 in Minneapolis. Subsequently, one of the actions by the Union was to give a grant to Rwanda to restore rural telecommunications that had been completely destroyed during the trying moments. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to inform the distinguished delegates that that project has been completed, and as a consequence, now several ICT applications are accessible to various sections of the rural population.

Mr. Chairman, the Government of Rwanda is truly committed to globalization and regional integration. Presently, we are involved in a number of projects with both national and regional scope. For instance, premised upon a 40m antenna hoisted on the Karisimbi Summit, thereby accessing one of the highest altitudes in Africa, we are presently implementing a project that will not only be able to beam signals to vast areas of the region, but also provide an opportunity to access massive broadband capacities in the Gigabit range at ridiculously low costs, affordable to many of our Member States and telecom operators. This facility, when completed in a few months time, will revolutionalize communications, bringing Internet and telephony within the reach of ordinary citizens of Rwanda and the sub-region. Besides, following endorsement of the Ministers from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in September this year, we are developing a high-altitude Air Traffic Management System for aerospace communication, navigation and surveillance that will have profound impact on aviation in the COMESA region.

The modest achievements Rwanda has made in the field of ICT and telecommunications would not have been possible, without the ITU continued support and co-operation. The Kyoto and Minneapolis Resolutions enabled the Telecom Development Bureau (BDT) of the ITU with European Union (EU’s) backing to support Rwanda in introducing targeted e-Government applications, among them on-line visa processing and government video-conferencing applications. I am also pleased to inform distinguished delegates that most of the project components are completed, with the final ones being tested and due for commissioning. In addition, courtesy of the UK Telecom Academy and the BDT, the Regional Masters Training Program has already started in earnest, and already receiving and training students. We see this as one important way through which ITU is supporting capacity development in Africa.

On its part, the Government of Rwanda has continued to fully support the ITU Vision, orientation, and programs. We fully participated in and endorsed, for instance, the WSIS processes, outcomes and action plans. It is in this regard, Excellencies, that Rwanda has accepted to be a central player in the development of the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure for Eastern and Southern Africa, as espoused in the “Kigali Protocol” of August 2006. In addition, in line with keeping with globalization and international best practices, Rwanda became one of the first world countries to 100% privatize its incumbent operator, and has since licensed 3 fixed and 2 mobile operators. Besides, in spite of our status as a Least Developing Country, Rwanda has already made a modest contribution of US$ 40,000 towards realization of the WSIS Post-Tunis Agenda and Action Plans.

Mr. Chairman, it is bearing in mind these humble but significant contributions to promoting the orientation and vision of the Union that Rwanda will be seeking continued support and even stronger participation, not only in the Union, but also some of its key organs, notably the Council. We count on all Partner States for continued brotherhood and sisterhood, in our collective journey towards bridging, and ultimately eliminating all forms of the digital divide.

Mr. Chairman, we would like to promise the new ITU leadership that will be elected in Antalya beginning tomorrow of our unwavering support.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.