00:06Mesdames et Messieurs, bonsoir et bienvenue dans les instants du numérique. Le Rwanda est
00:12souvent cité parmi les pays africains qui ont réalisé des avancées importantes dans
00:16le domaine du numérique. Politique publique, investissement, infrastructure et développement
00:22de l'écosystème numérique. Plusieurs facteurs contribuent à cette dynamique. A l'occasion de
00:27le Faso Digital 2026, nous nous intéressons à cette expérience rwandaise afin de comprendre
00:33les clés de cette transformation et les bonnes pratiques que le Burkina Faso pourrait adapter
00:38à son propre contexte. Quelles sont les réalisations majeures du Rwanda dans le domaine du numérique?
00:44Quel rôle les pouvoirs publics ont-ils joué dans cette évolution et quelles opportunités
00:48de coopération pourraient être développées entre les deux pays? Pour en parler, nous
00:53recevons M. Jules Kazungou et M. Alex Talé dans le cadre de cet entretien consacré au
01:01partage d'expériences du Rwanda sur les facteurs clés de réussite et sa transformation numérique.
01:07Messieurs, bonsoir et bienvenue.
01:10Merci beaucoup, madame.
01:12Bonsoir, merci beaucoup.
01:13D'accord. Pour commencer, quelles sont les principales réalisations qui illustrent aujourd'hui
01:18le succès du Rwanda dans le domaine du numérique?
01:23Merci beaucoup.
01:25Donc, un, je suis très heureux d'être ici et d'être vraiment invité pour le Faso Digital
01:352026.
01:36C'est un privilège et un honneur pour nous et pour Rwanda de avoir été considéré
01:42à participer à ce event, ce Sout-to-Sout collaboration, c'est en train de se
01:50augmenter et de se développer.
01:51Donc, pour la question de ce qu'il y a des milestones Rwanda qui a fait dans le
01:57digital et la transformation, une remarquable est la facte que Rwanda a
02:03réussi à digitiser beaucoup de services à des citoyens et à des businesses et à
02:11en assurant qu'ils sont en un groupe, donc un citoyen n'a jamais besoin de
02:16wonder où ils ont besoin d'un service, ils ont une plateforme, l'Iremo, et ils
02:22sont en train d'accessions.
02:24Mais c'est aussi construit sur les fondations de reformes et infrastructures, digital
02:35infrastructure that was invested in over a period of more than 10 years, more
02:43than almost 20 years, from 2000 to 2020, under Vision 2020, reforms that
02:49transformed really Rwanda and now are building, have built those foundations for
02:57another economy.
02:59So that, I would say, is our biggest, is the biggest achievement, but my colleague
03:05could also achieve it.
03:06Yeah, merci.
03:08Comme vous l'avez demandé, je m'appelle Jules Cazon, je suis directeur d'une société
03:12rwandais, Regional Research Center for Integrate Development.
03:16Nous sommes membres de Rwanda ICT Chamber, et nous sommes très heureux d'être ici au
03:22Burkina pour le Faso Digital 2026.
03:27À ce qui concerne votre question, qu'est-ce que le Rwanda a réalisé dans le domaine digital
03:33innovation ? Il y avait une politique de régulation, mais aussi ce qu'on appelle en anglais
03:42Policy Environment, où nous avons fait ouvert les investisseurs qui sont venus de l'extérieur.
03:51On a mis des institutions qui sont efficaces dans le domaine de la digitalisation.
03:59Mais aussi notre président de la République, Paul Kagame, c'est l'un des présidents africains,
04:06même au niveau mondial, qui fait des innovations.
04:09Cela montre que nous sommes très avancés à cause d'une politique, une direction et
04:15une vision de notre président.
04:17Merci.
04:18D'accord.
04:19Et quel rôle les pouvoirs publics ont-ils joué dans cette réussite, notamment à travers
04:24les politiques, les investissements et les infrastructures numériques ?
04:31Si je vois, c'est que la politique, les politiques qui ont été installées ou que nous avons
04:41pour le moment.
04:43À ce qui concerne l'intelligence artificielle, maintenant nous avons une loi qui a été établie
04:52par les parlementaires.
04:54Ça, c'est quelque chose qui est très important.
04:57Les deux, nous avons une politique sur l'intelligence artificielle.
05:03Récemment, le cabinet des ministres, ils ont mis ensemble une agence qui est chargée
05:11de l'intelligence artificielle.
05:15Et oui, nous avons des institutions, nous avons des politiques, nous avons des stratégies,
05:20nous avons des régulations.
05:22Tout ce qui est digitaux, tout ce qui est innovation, tout ce qui est numérique est dans le gouvernement,
05:29comme notre président du Chambre, ICT, il a dit.
05:33Et je pense qu'il va aussi compléter tout ce que j'ai vu du Cancun.
05:37So, in the area of just, I think, I alluded to it in terms of where we started from.
05:48So, the starting point is the vision, as my colleague was saying.
05:52Having a visionary leader that is focused on building the economy and transforming it into
06:00a knowledge-based economy.
06:02One, the biggest role that government has played has been one to look at the policies.
06:11Okay, ensuring that policies, the laws are very conducive that can attract investors.
06:18Because investors want to go to a place where they assure that when they put their money,
06:24when they invest their money, they'll be able to get it back.
06:27That there is a rule of law, that there is security, and there is, they have confidence
06:33in the direction that the country is taking.
06:36So, the first thing was transforming that.
06:41Liberizing the economy, opening up, making sure that when investors bring their money in Rwanda
06:46through investments, they also have, they are open to take it, to take profits out.
06:54But they also changed and built other incentives.
06:59Incentives that give maybe sometimes tax breaks for investors that are coming to invest in priority sectors.
07:08For example, ICT for a long time has had zero tax on ICT equipment.
07:14That is for mobile phones, laptops, and all other digital equipment that enable the growth of the sector.
07:26So, that has played a big role because then it gave confidence to investors to come and invest,
07:35both foreign investors, diaspora as well as local investors.
07:40The next thing is investing in capacity, human capital, training and establishing schools that are specialized to science and technology.
07:55Starting with when our president was not president yet, he was vice president, invested in the College of Science and
08:05Technology or Kigali Institute of Science and Technology more than 20 years ago.
08:11And that built the foundations for a knowledge base that can actually work in the technology, in the technology space.
08:22And then came investment in infrastructure, fiber optic across the country.
08:29So, fiber optic across the country, border to border, has also now been the same foundations through which 4G network
08:40has been built that now extends close to 96% of the country coverage.
08:49So, that services, digital services can be distributed, can be served, can reach to citizens using that infrastructure.
09:00So, that is the role that the government has played in ensuring and building this digital economy.
09:08Okay.
09:09Au regard de cette expérience, quelles sont selon vous les bonnes pratiques que le Burkina Faso pourrait concrètement adapter pour
09:18accélérer sa propre transformation numérique?
09:22I mean, I don't, I've only been in Burkina Faso for almost three days of now, yeah, three days now.
09:31So, I wouldn't be an expert on what Burkina Faso needs to do or what it can adapt.
09:39But from the best, from what we have seen, we have seen that there's a lot of interest through the
09:46different meetings that we've had with the entrepreneurs, with the ICT entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso.
09:54And working with them and talking to them, we've seen that there's a lot of interest and love for the
10:02country and patriotism.
10:04And they want to build together the country and the digital economy.
10:09So, the starting point, even today when we met with some of the government leaders, one of the things, the
10:18interest is to develop solutions to see that we accelerate development of solutions that can come and fast track Burkina
10:31Faso's development.
10:33Already, there are foundations, but we believe that through South to South collaborations, sharing with different organizations like Fednumeric, like
10:43Nifaso Digital and all the other organizations that we are working with, there is potential for us to unlock a
10:53lot, to unlock a lot of possibilities in Burkina Faso.
10:58And that is what we aim to do, to see how do we walk this journey together as collaborators, our
11:06partners in a win-win situation.
11:10Yeah, for completely, my president of the ICT Rwanda, the practices that Burkina can adopt for the Rwanda, because we
11:20are very advanced, as we have already said, the four days that we were here, it was to explore what
11:28are the challenges, but also how we can work, as we have said.
11:33The one, it is to help the fédération numérique for the fédération numérique for the governance, the ship, the structure,
11:42that is one of the decisions that we have taken.
11:46The two, it is to help the government in the services digitalization numérique.
11:53We are advanced in Rwanda, we have what we call the rainbow open, where 250 services of government are there.
12:01It is something that Burkina Faso also thought about.
12:06But we have done a lot of meetings with different partners, such as COGEF, such as Commerce Industries, such as
12:15the people of government.
12:16We have had a meeting with the ministries of the Ministry of Agriculture, who is charge of animals and wildlife
12:26and fishing.
12:29They are very interested in working together with the government and even the investors who can come here and go
12:36to Rwanda.
12:37And we will see how to exchange their experiences, as you have said.
12:43Thank you.
12:44D'accord.
12:45Et enfin, quelle opportunité de coopération entre les entreprises numériques du Rwanda et du Burkina Faso pourrait être développée pour
12:53renforcer les échanges et les partenariats?
12:56So, the most basic one is to really work hand in hand with FedNumeric to build a strong organization as
13:08the APEX body representing the digital economy in Burkina Faso.
13:15So, our commitment is to work hand in hand with FedNumeric to start with and also identify, jointly identify challenges
13:26within the country that we can both solve, that we can work on.
13:35That is, it could be developing solutions, supporting members to move to do B2B business to business matching because we
13:48have member companies in Rwanda that want to invest in Burkina Faso and Burkina Faso companies that are interested in
13:55the East African market.
13:56And we see that this Sahel region, with a collaboration with FedNumeric, we could have a lot of business together
14:08between FedNumeric and ICT chamber members.
14:12So, our thinking is that now, when we go back to Rwanda, we'll organize because yesterday during Rwanda Day, we
14:25saw a lot of presentations from Rwanda and we want to bring those companies to Burkina Faso so that they
14:35can have these exchanges firsthand and have work with Burkina Faso.
14:42Okay.
14:44So, for completing the opportunities of collaboration between Rwanda and Burkina Faso, I see the angles of the government.
14:53Because there is a lot of investment, as he said, in the infrastructure, digitalization, it will be opportunities to work
15:02together.
15:03But also the digital services, if I can say, digital services, if I can say, are also an opportunity to
15:09work with what we do there.
15:10And we want that Burkina Faso are regional, West Africa and Coas, those three countries that can be the model
15:21of everyone in the region.
15:22We want to come and see what you do, which will be important.
15:27We want to come and see how to help the fédération numérique.
15:31We want to talk about the opportunities.
15:34And I will not talk about the ICT chamber chamber.
15:36We want to talk about how they have done the role of Rwanda Chamber ICT in the economic development, social
15:44development, infrastructure.
15:47We want to talk about what is ICT, what is digitalization.
15:51We want to talk about the private sector.
15:56We want to think about the research.
15:59Like my institution, I do research.
16:01We need research.
16:03We need research.
16:03The role of the academic institutions, the research institutions.
16:09How to help the government, not only in the services, but also in the impact of the numérique, but also
16:15in the opportunities.
16:17We need to study and then we need to talk about how there is the learning, there is the problem.
16:22I think that such cooperation, such opportunities and research will be also important in this cooperation.
16:29Thank you.
16:30D'accord.
16:30We are at the end of this conversation.
16:33Is there a point that we have not addressed or that you would like to address?
16:41It is the great hospitality that we have enjoyed in Burkina Faso.
16:47courtesy of Peggy Merrick, very welcoming, hospitable people in Burkina Faso.
16:56It's been really, really a great honor for us to be a part of this.
17:01And we are excited and we look forward to collaboration, to working together.
17:06The enthusiasm, the excitement, the love for the country, the patriotism that Burkina Faso has.
17:13is really, as it says, is the land of the righteous ones.
17:19So we are happy and excited to be here.
17:34D'accord.
17:36Thank you.
17:37And the Faso digital, 2027, we come back.
17:43We come back.
17:44I want you to ask a little question.
17:46I do not know very well the language in Rwanda.
17:50Can you tell me how we say thank you in a language in Rwanda?
17:55Murakosi.
17:56Murakosi.
17:56I will thank you.
17:58Murakosi Chan.
17:59Murakosi.
18:00Murakosi.
18:01Murakosi.
18:03Murakosi.
18:05Mesdames et messieurs, nous sommes à la fin de cet entretien consacré aux instants du numérique.
18:11Merci de nous avoir suivis et rendez-vous très prochainement pour de nouvelles éditions.
