{"id":19089,"date":"2025-05-29T22:28:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T22:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paulkagame.rw\/?p=19089"},"modified":"2025-06-03T02:30:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T02:30:12","slug":"speech-by-president-kagame-astana-international-forum-2025-astana-29-may-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/?p=19089","title":{"rendered":"Speech by President Kagame | Astana International Forum 2025 | Astana, 29 May 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

It is a privilege to join you today, and I thank President Tokayev for his gracious invitation.<\/p>\n

Kazakhstan\u2019s prosperity is a reflection of its bold leadership, and the resilience of the Kazakh people.<\/p>\n

This forum has become a vital platform, not only for dialogue, but for pragmatic cooperation in a world that is increasingly fragmented.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s focus rightly underscores that global challenges are deeply interconnected, and our responses must be just as integrated.<\/p>\n

This calls for a shift in the way we approach foreign policy and international cooperation.<\/p>\n

In Rwanda, we have learned that external alignment, without internal stability, only deepens our vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n

Our priority is therefore focused on what delivers real and measurable benefits to our people.<\/p>\n

This includes prioritizing peace and security, strengthening economic self-reliance, and accelerating regional integration.<\/p>\n

Our engagements with international partners are grounded in mutual respect and reciprocity, not dependency.<\/p>\n

This is the principle that should apply to the global economy, and how it functions.<\/p>\n

The Covid pandemic exposed how fragile and unequal our financial systems have become.<\/p>\n

Since then, many developing countries remain trapped between rising debt, shrinking fiscal space, and harsh borrowing terms.<\/p>\n

There has been much talk of reforming the global financial architecture, so that it is fit-for-purpose.<\/p>\n

But the problem we have is not just structural, it is political. The rules of the system are quite often enforced unequally.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the criteria for assessing financial risk are based on outdated assumptions that disadvantage countries in the South.<\/p>\n

This restricts access to capital, increases costs, and delays progress.<\/p>\n

But while we push for change, we must also act with greater urgency to build resilience from within.<\/p>\n

That means managing our resources more effectively, enhancing industrial productivity, and investing in human capital development.<\/p>\n

It is encouraging to see the renewed momentum behind South-South cooperation, including between Africa and Central Asia.<\/p>\n

This is not an alternative to global engagement, but a necessary complement that provides a stronger collective voice on issues that affect us all.<\/p>\n

We thank Kazakhstan for opening this space, and Rwanda stands ready to do its part.<\/p>\n

I thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is a privilege to join you today, and I thank President Tokayev for his gracious invitation. Kazakhstan\u2019s prosperity is a reflection of its bold leadership, and the resilience of the Kazakh people. This forum has become a vital platform, not only for dialogue, but for pragmatic cooperation in a world that is increasingly fragmented. This year\u2019s focus rightly underscores that global challenges are deeply interconnected, and our responses must be just as integrated. This calls for a shift in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speech","post-has-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19091,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19089\/revisions\/19091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulkagame.rw\/2025\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}