National Social Security Fund

In an effort to improve savings in Rwanda, the National Social Security Fund will replicate Singapore's successful policies in this regard.

"We are learning from Singapore's experience where an integrated policy was adopted to allow savings to be used for housing," said Kayoboke, who noted that currently 90 percent of Singaporeans live in their own homes because of the pre-retirement benefits offered by their central provident fund (CPF).

Recently the Rwandan Government adopted a social security policy with various reform proposals. Some of the major reforms proposed include: introducing the provident fund pillar and parametric adjustments like changes in contribution rates.

With meager savings from 8 percent contribution rate, the National Social Security Fund has managed to make investments that have highly contributed to economic growth. From 2006, over 30.4 percent of financial assets in the country have been owned by Social Security Fund of Rwanda (CSR).

Aviation hub

Recently during an investment forum with over 110 foreign investors from 25 countries, Rwanda presented a project to construct an International Airport, a move that would see Rwanda becoming a regional aviation hub. The Bugesera International Airport is estimated to cost $635 million including equipment and installations under Public Private Partnership.

Peter Kieran, President of CPCS Transcom, an infrastructural development company that conducted the Bugesera International Airport study, urged investors to exploit the country's untapped potential in infrastructure development.

"Rwanda has untapped potential of becoming a major international hub like Dubai and Singapore," he told Rwandan daily The New Times at a recent investment forum.

The government wants to benefit from Rwanda's standing in the IFC–World Bank Doing Business 2010 report, where Rwanda is the star and the world's top reformer of business regulations, making it easier to start businesses, register property, protect investors, trade across borders, and access credit. It marks the first time a Sub-Saharan African economy is the top reformer.

Kayoboke said that the government is learning from Singapore, one of the leading air hubs in the world, through the Civil Aviation Authority.

"Their airport [Singapore] is consistently ranked number one and it handles over 40 million passengers a year. Rwanda wants to be a regional hub and we have been looking at ways in which we can improve our airports and become an aviation hub," said Kayoboke.

Recently, Cheapflight, a UK-based travel advisory company, indicated that Rwanda is one of its top favored three destinations in Africa, with flights to Rwanda increasing by 47 percent.

City planning

Kigali, Rwanda's capital and one of the fastest growing cities in the world, has been seeking advice from Singapore, one of the world's best-planned cities.

Kayoboke said city planning is crucial to creating a conducive and sustainable path to development.

According to a report in The New York Times at the end of April, Kigali selected the enterprise and Surbana Urban Planning Group (which is wholly owned by Temasek Holdings, the investment vehicle of Singapore's government) to help with detailed plans for its new central business district.

In the report, Rangira Bruno, a spokesman for the Kigali City Council, said,  "We were impressed by Singapore's expertise in urban planning and how they have built an environmentally friendly city." Bruno said Kigali officials were interested in learning how Singapore had managed to transform itself in the last four decades "from a third-world economy to a middle-income economy."

(Reporting from Malawi)

The Singapore Model

When Singapore broke away from the Federation of Malaya in 1965, the population faced harsh, third-world conditions with virtually no natural resources and a small domestic market. Determined to lift the economy out of the doldrums, the Singapore Government embarked on a program of sweeping reforms and implemented a pro-business, pro-foreign investment economic model based on free market principles but with strong emphasis on central planning. From 1965 to 2009, the country's economy produced real growth of 7.8 percent, categorically proving the success of this method and placing the small nation eighth highest in the world in terms of GDP per capita. The method behind the success of this "economic miracle" is now known as The Singapore Model.