Rwanda National Police

New York, 25 September 2013

President Kagame has cautioned that although a lot has changed in the world, where a billion people were lifted out of poverty, more children sent to school, greater care for the sick provided and a generation born in a new age of information ready to embrace ever expanding frontiers of technology, the transformation is not yet complete.

While addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York today, President Kagame said:

“Thirteen years ago, the Millennium Development Goals established humanitarian principles for the 21st century. Together, member states and international organisations stood for an ideal– that the world’s poorest nations and poorest people should not have to live without dignity and hope. But the transformation is not yet complete. The shortcomings are as long as the successes. And as we think about the post-2015 agenda, we must have the courage to go beyond business as usual.”

President Kagame urged the world to take an honest look at the MDGs, and point out what worked and what did not, and commit to forge a new global partnership, founded on mutual responsibility and trust and pointed out that this would require developing nations to take greater ownership in the post-2015 agenda:

“One of the failings of aid has been the lack of attention to country specific context in the agreements. So, now is the time for the developing world to make their voice heard, to shape the debate and to ensure policies and programmes are demand-driven. It will also require governments to empower those whose lives we are trying to transform; to give them a stake in the process and a say in the progress of the country. In Rwanda, we have found that empowering local leaders, while demanding accountability, is an effective catalyst for development. ”

Click on the link below to listen to the speech: paulkagame.tv/podcast/

Source: presidency.gov.rw