Towards the end of the year most people reflect on the year’s remarkable achievements. These achievements may be evaluated at national, regional or international level. At national level, there’re tremendous achievements that Rwandans can be proud of. To begin with, on January 28, 2018, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) meeting at their 30th Ordinary Session held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, elected President Paul Kagame, as the new Chair of the African Union. Kagame took over from Alpha Conde, the President of the Republic of Guinea, who was at the helm in 2017. Prior to that, President Kagame had been appointed by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in a summit held in Kigali as the leader of the reform process of the African Union. The role reflects the AU’s commitment to transformation Agenda. From March 17 to 21, 2018, some 44 African countries signed up to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, creating a single African market that will equally ease mobility of people across the continent. The agreement’s vision is a free trade encompassing 1.2 billion people across the continent. This agreement would allow mainly the movement of goods and services, flowing freely in and out between African countries, which, of course, have subscribed to the agreement. One of the likely potential benefits is to create tens of thousands of jobs and significantly reduce unemployment among the continent’s youthful population. However, AfCFTA is yet to secure the minimum ratifications to come into force. But there’s a prospect that sooner or later the required number may be met for the dream to come into reality. Once this agreement enters into force, it is likely to increase intra-African trade, generate jobs, do away with tariffs, and harmonize the work of already-existing regional economic communities. In September, Rwanda held parliamentary elections, with Rwandans overseas voting the day before. The result was a victory for the Rwandan Patriotic Front coalition, which won 40 of the 53 elected seats, whilst the Democratic Green Party and Social Party Imberakuri both entered parliament for the first time. With 49 of the 80 seats in the newly-elected parliament held by women (61 per cent), the elections maintained Rwanda’s position as the country with the highest proportion of female MPs. More importantly, the whole electoral process was held in a peaceful environment. This was confirmed by all stakeholders inter alia the media and AU elections observation mission alike. This, of course, shows nothing but political maturity of the citizens. Indeed, peaceful elections portrays understanding and observance of the basic principle of democratic rule. The most essential foundation to put down before embarking on seeking the mandate of the people is through peaceful, transparent, free and fair elections. Like the majority UN member States, Rwanda signed, but yet to ratify, the “Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration”, an intergovernmentally negotiated and agreed as non-binding agreement, held in Marrakech, Morocco on the December 10 and 11. It was a significant step towards its ratification or accession. This Global Compact reaffirms the foundational principles of the global community, including national sovereignty and universal human rights, while pointing towards humane and sensible action to benefit countries of origin, transit and destination as well as migrants themselves. The Compact calls for greater solidarity with migrants in situations of appalling vulnerability and abuse. It underscores the need to anticipate future trends, from labour markets to the impacts of climate change. And it highlights the imperative of devising more legal pathways for migration, which would also help to crack down on trafficking and exploitation. In October, 2018, Rwanda and Alibaba Group signed three agreements to facilitate electronic trade, better known as E-commerce, in Rwanda. The partnership was destined for opening doors for small businesses in Africa to take part in cross-border electronic trade. Indeed, this partnership would strengthen cooperation in support of Rwanda’s economic development by promoting policy innovation, enabling cross-border trade of Rwandan products to Chinese consumers, facilitating tourism to Rwanda, and providing capacity building to empower the growth of Rwanda’s digital economy. More particularly, the Parties shall work together for the promotion and sales of Rwandan tourist attractions, and related products and services to the Chinese travel market on the Fliggy travel platform. Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese multinational conglomerate specialising in e-commerce, retail, Internet, Artificial Intelligence and technology. In May, Rwanda and Arsenal FC signed a three-year sponsorship and tourism promotional deal, which promotes the “Visit Rwanda”, a tourist board logo to be placed on the left sleeve of all players in Arsenal’s First, Under-23 and Women’s teams. The deal aims to promote Rwanda’s tourism industry, the country’s leading foreign exchange earner. There’s a prospect that the partnership will contribute to Rwanda’s ambitious plan to build the tourism industry. Indeed, there’s hope that the ‘Visit Rwanda’ will further establish the country as a leading tourist destination. The writer is a law expert. The views expressed in this article are of the author.
