By:
Athan Tashobya
L-R
- Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Laureate, UN SDGs Advocate and Director;
President Kagame; President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana; Dr
Alaa Murabit, the voice of Libyan Women on UN SDGs Advocate; Prof.
Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University; and
Moussa Faki Mahamat, AU Commission chairperson in Accra Ghana yesterday.
/ Village Urugwiro
President Paul Kagame and his Ghanaian
counterpart Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo have underlined what is needed
for developing countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs).
Speaking yesterday at the ongoing high-level Africa roundtable on
SDGs in Ghana’s capital Accra, President Kagame said that there is room
for everyone’s commitment, right from private to public sector players,
for the development goals to be achieved.
“We need to involve everyone. We have all made commitments and
statements of understanding on what needs to be done and we need to
follow these up with actions. It can be done and we have seen it being
done. We need to accelerate what we are all doing,” Kagame said.
President Kagame inspects a guard of honour
mounted by the Ghana Armed Forces on arrival in the West African nation
yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
President Kagame observing the national
anthems of both Rwanda and Ghana at the airport ahead of the high-level
on SDGs in Accra yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
President Kagame was received at Accra Kotoka International Airport with a bouquet of flowers yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
President Kagame upon arrival at the airport in Accra ahead of the major meeting on SDGs yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
The President observed that there is a shared gap in African
leadership that hinders growth in SDGs and argued that its high time
leaders took charge of African problems and seek solutions without
necessarily relying on external influence.
“It all starts with ownership and we have to take charge of our own
problems. We have partners and friends that are willing to help, but we
must not accept that they do everything for us,” he said.
Goal 4 of SDGs is about ensuring inclusive and quality education for all and promotion of lifelong learning. / File
Presidents Kagame and Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana, and Moussa Faki Mahamat, the AU
Commission chairperson, in the Ghanaian capital of Accra where they
discussed the role of leaders in promoting Sustainable Development Goals
yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
President Kagame, and his host, President Akufo-Addo, at the Roundtable on MDGs in Accra yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
Kagame is received by Ghanaian officials at Accra Kotoka International Airport yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
On his part, Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said that
as African leaders attempt to confront challenges facing their
respective countries and Africa at large, there are “great prospects” in
using SDGs to open up for all citizens, “and do so in away that leave
no one behind.”
The two-day meeting is hosted by President Akufo-Addo, who who is the
co-chair of the Eminent Group of Advocates, along with Prime Minister
Erna Solberg of Norway.
President Kagame meets with the AU Commission
chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat in Ghana yesterday. Kagame, who is
spearheading an ongoing AU reform process, is scheduled to assume the
chairmanship of African Union next month. / Village Urugwiro
President Kagame in a group photo with other
officials, including AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat
(second left) and Rwanda’s Ambassador to Ghana Stanislas Kamanzi (right)
in Accra yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
Presidents Paul Kagame and his host,
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana, and AU Commission
Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat at the high-level roundtable on SDGs in
Accra yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
Public-private partnerships key
Speaking at the initial opening session of a high-level Africa
roundtable on SDGs, held under the theme “Mobilising Support and
Accelerating growth of SDGs”, President Kagame noted that developing
countries need to embrace public-private partnerships if the world is to
achieve the global transformational agenda.
Kagame said that for the SDGs to fully fit into poverty eradication
plans for most developing countries, strong collaboration between
governments and the private sectors is critical.
A cultural troupe welcomes President Kagame
on his arrival at Accra Kotoka International Airport in Ghana yesterday.
/ Village Urugwiro
President Kagame shortly after arriving
at Accra Kotoka International Airport ahead of the high-level forum on
SDGs in the Ghanaian capital yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
He said that once this aspect is well exploited, nations would easily reach the new targets and transform the lives of people.
“There are two main aspects of the SDGs that constitute an improvement from our experience with the MDGs,” Kagame said.
“First
is the strong emphasis on the private sector as an engine to eliminate
poverty and create wealth, objectives that are at the heart of most of
our national plans.”
The SDGs are a comprehensive set of 17 goals which seek to go beyond
the past accomplishments of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to
create a sustainable world by 2030.
Presidents Kagame and Akufo-Addo, along with
other panelists, took part in the Presidential Forum, under the theme:
What would it take for the SDGs to happen? The role of leadership”, in
the Ghanaian capital Accra yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
Presidents Kagame and Akufo-Addo at the high-level roundtable on SDGs in Accra yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, the Director, Earth
Institute at Columbia University and UN SDGs Eminent Advocate, speaks at
the forum in Accra yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
President Akufo-Addo speaks at the forum in Accra yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
The goals were officially adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at the UN General Assembly.
“Integrating
the SDGs into these plans and ensuring their implementation cannot be
successfully achieved by government alone. This is why strong
collaboration with the private sector is critical for reaching a win-win
situation,” Kagame said.
The financing gaps for major projects, Kagame noted, can be filled by
private sector investment through appropriate de-risking mechanisms
provided by the public sector and other partners.
AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat
speaks during the session highlighting the role of leadership in the
achievement of SDGs, in Accra yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
Dr Alaa Murabit, the voice of Libyan Women on UN SDGs Advocate addresses the forum in Ghana yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
Lamin Momodou Manneh, the Director of the
UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa, addresses the meeting in Accra
yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
The President also observed that SDGs are rather an “ambitious
framework”, hence global partnerships between developing and developed
countries would go a long way in bridging the gap to address the issues
for which the development agenda was devised.
“We have an ambitious development framework to engage all countries
rather than just developing ones, especially knowing that there are
cross-cutting issues that affect everyone.
“This provides new scope for productive global partnerships and
learning. This could include reaching consensus on how to measure
progress and support implementation in ways that are most relevant for
our respective national contexts,” the Head of State added.
Following the opening the session, President Kagame participated in
the Presidential panel discussion on “What would it take for SDGs to
happen: The role of leadership”, along with his host, President
Akufo-Addo. As part of his intervention, President Kagame spoke about
the causes of the collective gaps in African leadership, in regards to
achieving SDGs. “The continent needs to work together to mobilise
resources, especially financial resources and people. Each country also
needs its own champions to build consensus and drive results. They
should be inclusive of private sector, women and young people
represented.”
A section of delegates at the high-level roundtable on Sustainable Development Goals in Accra yesterday. / Village Urugwiro
Finance and Economic Planning minister Claver
Gatete (left) is among the officials that accompanied President Kagame
to Accra for the high-level forum on SDGs. / Village Urugwiro
Speaking on the conversation around aid, President Kagame said: “I
don’t think that people have dismissed aid as not necessary,
conversations have been around the fact that aid is not enough.
‘‘The conversation on how we use aid to build capacity or for investment, I think is a fair conversation.”
Joining the Presidents on the panel were; Moussa Faki Mahamat, the AU
Commission chairperson; Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, the Director, Earth
Institute at Columbia University and UN SDGs Eminent Advocate; Leymah
Gbowee, Nobel Laureate, UN SDGs Advocate and Director; and Dr Alaa
Murabit, the voice of Libyan Women on UN SDGs Advocate.
editorial@newtimes.co.rw
No comments :
Post a Comment