I would like to thank you for the tremendous honour you have bestowed on me and my country, with the award of this honorary doctorate.

I am also very happy to see my very good friend and colleague, whom I respect, Mr Ban Ki-Moon, who we in Rwanda hold in the highest esteem.

This is my fourth visit to Korea, but my first to the Yonsei campus. I wish that our connection had started much earlier. Yonsei clearly ranks among the world’s finest universities, and I am very proud for Rwanda to be associated with your institution.

I would like to focus my remarks on a simple question, and that is: What is the purpose of public policy?

Let me put it succinctly, in light of my country’s experience: The purpose of public policy is to make our citizens safe, united, free, creative, and prosperous, more or less in that order.

On this day, 30 years ago, Rwanda was still in the midst of a genocide that claimed more than a million lives. In order to keep power at all costs, the previous regime decided to eliminate one segment of the population, known as Tutsi.

The forces of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which I led, put a stop to the genocide, after three long months.

We inherited a country which was completely broken and devastated, physically, financially, and spiritually. Our people were displaced and divided. Establishing security was our first policy objective. Without it, nothing else is possible.

But security alone is not enough. We quickly turned to diagnosing the root causes of the divisions that led to genocide. People in Rwanda have various differences, just as in any other country. Everyone is entitled to that.

However, in the relationship between citizens and the state, we decided that all that matters is what unites us: Being Rwandans. Ethnic categories were abolished on identity cards, along with quotas and discrimination of all kinds, including on the basis of religion.

Safety and unity allowed us to expand our horizon into the future, but our country was still very poor. Achieving real prosperity requires mindsets of truth-seeking, critical thinking, and creativity.

A country also needs to secure the freedom to set its own path, despite the pressures and hypocrisies from the international system, especially for small and medium-sized nations.

We decided to focus on instilling these virtues in our young people, as a strategy for national transformation.

We needed to confront the truth of our history, above all, and ensure that the memory of our tragic past was not forgotten.

For ten years, all Rwandans participated in a national truth and justice process known as Gacaca, which allowed communities to weigh guilt and impose penalties, and provide closure to survivors. The files from these proceedings total more than 55 million handwritten pages, and are now preserved in our national archives.

To open the mind of our youth, we embarked in the late 1990s on an aggressive push to expand internet and technology access.

Believe it or not, this was controversial at first. Some donors and philanthropists thought this was a waste of resources, which would be better spent on basic needs. We said: We agree on ensuring the needs of our people. But eventually Rwandans also want to be a people who can aspire to live beyond the basics.

Today, Rwanda has the lowest mobile broadband costs in Africa, our schools are wired, and most public services are transacted on a digital platform called Irembo, meaning ‘the gate’.

Money is a commodity, but prosperity is a state of mind. A prosperous people will gain or regain wealth, even after enormous setbacks.

That is why we are putting increasing emphasis on educating Rwandans for professions that require a lot of creativity and innovation, particularly in high technology.

Korea and Rwanda have mostly gone through history without reference to one another. Today, it is much easier to connect and collaborate, and it is increasingly obvious why we should do so. That was the main theme of the Korea-Africa Summit convened by President Yoon this week.

Indeed, in many ways our journeys, while very different, are parallel. This allows us to recognize each other, and easily find a common purpose. Among the most important efforts we can undertake together is to contribute to a more harmonious and equitable international society, through research, scientific discovery, and imparting knowledge and wisdom to young people.

I fully expect the encounter between Rwanda and Yonsei University will flourish and bear fruit for decades to come. Every member of the Yonsei community is most welcome in our country.

Before I close, I wish to go back to my old friend and colleague, Ban Ki-Moon, because he told a story of how we met at night. There is a detail he actually left out. It was very late in the night. In fact, it was morning, because we met between 1am and 2 am. He had to continue the journey; he was on a trip across many parts of Africa campaigning for the Secretary General position, and I had delayed him. I was away in the countryside so I had to make sure I saw him when I came back, and that was very late. Sorry for keeping you very late.

But of course I had the honour and pleasure of working with the Secretary General when he was there at the time at the United Nations, and in fact he appointed me sometime in the course of his first term as the co-chair of the Millennium Development Goals. I am sure my friend Ban Ki-Moon remembers that very well. And I served on that commission for a long time.

But it was because of the connection we had, and the backgrounds we had in terms of the feeling for humanity and development, that we worked so well together, and so I thank you. I am happy to have this moment to include it in my remarks.

Once again, I thank you very much for the privilege of being with you today at this prestigious university which has also bestowed upon me this great honour. I thank you.