The Ministry of Local Government is holding a two-day retreat that focuses on acceleration of development through home grown initiatives.

According to the statement from the ministry, the forum that kicked off yesterday brings together members of the Private Sector Federation and officials from various ministries and institutions under the economic cluster.

Also in attendance are all provincial governors, the Mayor of Kigali City as well as district mayors.

"The retreat is a prelude to the national leadership retreat. We expect participants to generate ideas and recommendations, especially home grown initiatives and actions that will be undertaken to expedite national development programmes,” James Musoni, the Minister of Local Government, is quoted as saying.

The retreat aims at having an open debate among various stakeholders focusing on issues related to policy and legal framework, implementation process and procedures, as well as seeking collective solutions to existing barriers to development.

Participants will discuss acceleration of development in local governments in general, more specifically on agriculture chain management from production to marketing, ICT development and application, industrialisation, SMEs and cross-border trade.

Other issues to be deliberated include, access to finance, infrastructure development and urbanisation, land registration, mining and afforestation.

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