President Paul Kagame is in Paris, France where he is attending the inaugural Peace Forum.

The Paris Peace Forum, which started yesterday, brings together leaders from across the world, international organisations, local governments, NGOs and foundations, companies, experts, journalists, trade unions, religious groups and citizens.

Initiated by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, the forum aims to revive collective governance, international cooperation, norms, and institutions in the wake pressing global challenges.

Speaking at the inaugural event yesterday, Macron said the world is still challenged with global warming, illegal migration, cyber crimes, terrorism, use of chemical weapons racism and discrimination among others.

He said that the forum was an opportunity to discuss how such challenges can be addressed collectively to make the world a better place to live on.

"To have real peace, we need tangible actions and we must go beyond talks to address global problems,” he said

Macron also said that the forum was taking place because, for many years, the world lacked peace just from a century ago when the World War I that was followed by the World War II.

Macron called for efforts to embrace multinationalism and added that the world has learnt a lot from history and people understand the price and demand to have peace.

Germany Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said there is need to work together to build a brighter future.

Merkel said that over the past one year the world witnessed 221 conflicts, displacing millions of people and affecting billion of children

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, said the forum was a significant event to reflect on what should be done to avoid anything that can lead the world back to the horrific past.

Commenting on the climate change, Guterres; "The clock is ticking and if we don’t change now we will lose control over the directions.”

The Forum takes place in the midst of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice, which marked the end of World War I.

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