The Ambassador of Rwanda to Poland, prof. Anastase Shyaka, met with the Vice-Rector for Cooperation and Development, dr hab. Anna Jurkowska-Zeidler, prof. UG, and gave a lecture at the Faculty of Social Sciences. This is not the diplomat's first visit to our university: in 2001, he defended his doctoral thesis at UG under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Marek J. Malinowski, and in 2022 and 2023 he visited UG already as the Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda. ‘I am once again in Gdańsk, at this great institute,' prof. Anastase Shyaka's began his lecture.

Prof. Anastase Shyaka started the meeting by presenting a map of the world categorised by the GDP per capita of each country. He noted that Africa is the reddest, or lowest index, continent on the map, which is one of the reasons for the mass migration of Africans to the North.

‘This is a problem that can be solved in a number of ways, including through an aid strategy, which at present, in my opinion, is not fully effective,’ said prof. Anastase Shyaka. ‘A better approach might be a development strategy. This means that we need to look globally at the development problems of African countries. This is on the one hand a problem, but also an opportunity. Our areas are not hopeless, these are regions that are struggling with transition, but they have rich natural resources and a lot of young people.’

The Ambassador then went on to talk about a number of positive statistics for Rwanda, including the fact that it is the second fastest growing country in Africa, has a stable currency (the Rwandan franc), where more than 70% of the population is under the age of 30 and more than 60% of the parliament is female.

After the lecture, prof Anastase Shyaka answered questions from the audience, inviting everyone to talk. ‘Diplomacy tastes best when you talk, not when you read.’

The meeting was organised by the Regional Centre for International Debate and the UG Institute of Political Science, the event was chaired by RODM consultant dr Andrzej Skiba.

‘I hope that this visit will be motivating especially for diplomacy students, who can see that by graduating from the University of Gdańsk, one can become an ambassador. Prof. Anastase Shyaka, who defended his doctoral thesis at our university, is a perfect example of the fact that you can go high after graduating from Gdańsk political science,' said the Director of the Institute of Political Science dr hab. Arkadiusz Modrzejewski, prof. UG.

We invite you to watch video coverage of the Ambassador's speech.