Brussels, 18 June 2019 -  President Kagame today in Brussels, Belgium attended and delivered a keynote address at the opening ceremony of this year’s European Development Days (EDD) under the theme “Inequalities: trends and challenges in the context of globalization”.

In his keynote address, President Kagame highlighted that Africa is starting to come together to assert its interests with one voice.

“One of the most significant recent achievements in expanding the horizon of opportunities is the African Continental Free Trade Area, which will be formally launched next month at the African Union Summit in Niger. There is more work ahead to make sure that this agreement results in increased prosperity, for all our people, but we are eager to get started. The task of addressing inequality has always been the primary responsibility of each individual country,” President Kagame said.

The President further noted that in the current global context, it is more imperative than ever that developing countries take a more effective lead of their general development agenda.

Hosted by the European Commission, the event was initiated in 2006 by Louis Michel, as Europe’s leading forum on International Development to mobilize the 0.7% target for Official Development Aid (ODA).

The forum brings together the development community to share ideas and experiences in ways that inspire new partnerships and innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. The EDD 2019 theme is “Addressing inequalities: building a world which leaves no one behind”.

Other African Heads of State attending the event include President Macky Sall of Senégal and President Jorge Carlos Fonseca of Cabo Verde.

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