Rwandian President, H. E. Paul Kagame, Visits IIFT-Delhi

Rwandian President, H. E. Paul Kagame, Visits IIFT-Delhi

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) hosted the President of Republic of Rwanda - H. E. Paul Kagame - on January 20, 2009, amidst the presence of the government officials, senior diplomats from different countries, students, faculty and management of the institute.

Shri K. T. Chacko, Director, IIFT, received the President along with Dr. R. M. Joshi, Chairperson, Management Development Programmes, IIFT. "We are delighted that the President of Rwanda has chosen a premier management institution like IIFT for his visit. This is indeed a prestigious event for us," said Mr. Chacko.

On this occasion, said Dr. R. M. Joshi, "IIFT has emerged as a world-class business management institution with a niche category focus on foreign trade within a short span of time. We took the opportunity to emphasise our focus on entrepreneurship and cutting-edge research, especially relevant to emerging economies."

H. E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, stated that, "Though the current turbulent times of global meltdown have left the industry anxious, Africa still is a front-runner in the list of potential markets for the world. With states still playing key role in many of the sectors in Africa, the time is ripe for a comprehensive business dialogue of Indian industry with the key stake-holders of both public as well as private sector in Africa."

Mr. Kagame also added that India could help in the much-needed capacity building of the people in these countries in the area of international business, negotiations at WTO Forum, trade policy formulation, and so on.

The objective behind the regional cooperation is first to achieve economic union by raising the standard of living of people, reduction in inequalities in incomes, bridging gap between rich and poor, moving towards free and fair trade through reduction in marketing barriers, movement of natural persons, common passports, single monetary system, optimal use of resource endowments, and so on.

India and Africa are no exception to this paradigm shift. Empirical evidence shows that countries sharing common borders are working on the economic and political union to reap the benefits of the key factors of production, viz., labour, capital, technology, investment, and the natural resources enjoyed by each country in the region.

In recognition of its expertise in the area of International Business, the Government of India has entrusted it for the conduct of Capacity Building Programmes in International Business in African countries over the next five years.

Concluded.

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