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Last Updated: 28/02/2008

Rwandan officials to seek advice

Government officials from Rwanda are visiting Ireland next week to study the country's economy.

Rwanda, where 800,000 people were killed in a 1994 genocide, aims to transform itself from an agricultural economy into a hi-tech hub of Africa.

The technology sector in Africa is expected to see massive development in the next ten years. There were just 16 million mobile phone users on the continent in 2000, but this figure had jumped by almost ten-fold to 136 million by 2005.

The Rwandan government is already spending $65 million on broadband as part of a 20-year strategy to switch to a hi-tech service economy.

Representatives of Rwanda's Ministry of Finance are visiting Dublin's Digital Hub area on Monday to meet with experts from Ireland's technology sector.

"Rwanda is re-building itself with ambition to be the IT and Communications hub of Africa," said a spokesperson for Connect-World, which is hosting the visit.

Irish firms are already investing heavily in African countries, and the Taoiseach led an Enterprise Ireland delegation to South Africa last month.

About 60 per cent of Rwandans still live below the poverty line, defined by the UN as an income of less than a dollar a day.

© 2008 ireland.com