Busan – Republic of Korea, May 23rd, 2018 - Prime Minister Dr. Edouard Ngirente represents President Paul Kagame of the Republic of Rwanda and Chairperson of the African Union at the 2018 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group. In his keynote address, the Premier emphasized the importance of the meeting as a good opportunity to reflect on the role of industrialization as a catalyst for economic development. “Accelerating industrialization in Africa would increase productivity through value addition, create more jobs, raise incomes, and bring prosperity to our citizens,” he said. Prime Minister pointed out that Africa should increase its share in the value chains of manufacturing which is only 2% and find solutions to some of its current challenges like production capacity, infrastructure, trade information, access to finance, and trade facilitation.  “Political commitment, effective public services, a conducive regulatory environment, and a proactive private sector” will help Africa to overcome these challenges, the Prime Minister added.  To accelerate transformational change on the continent, the Prime Minister reiterated the importance of implementing projects that include the African Commodities Strategy, the Free Movement of People, the Continental Free Trade Area, and the Single African Air Transport Market.  The Premier hailed Ghana and Kenya for having deposited their instruments of ratification to the African Union Commission and announced that Rwanda will soon follow as the ratification has already been concluded both by the Cabinet and the Parliament. He called up on all AU member states to speed up the ratification process of the Continental Free Trade Area. Prime Minister reminded delegates that holding the 2018 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group in the Republic of Korea is an opportunity to reinforce the good cooperation between Africa and the Republic of Korea, a strong and reliable partner for Africa. Themed “Accelerating Africa’s Industrialization” the Annual Meetings of ADB convened in South Korea from May 21-25, 2018 brought together thousands delegates including Government officials, public and private sector CEOs, development partners, academics, civil society to reflect on Africa’s industrialization and related issues including climate change, infrastructure, private sector and governance