Rwanda’s Ngabitsinze elected UN Assistant Secretary-General, head of African Risk Capacity

Rwandan  Jean Chrysostome Ngabitsinze, former Minister of Trade and Industry, has been elected as the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and head of the African Risk Capacity (ARC). ARC is a specialized agency of the African Union that supports countries in preparing for and responding to natural disasters. Prof. Ngabitsinze succeeds Eva Grace Kavuma from Uganda. His election was confirmed on Monday, April 29, during the Fifteenth Session of the ARC Conference of the Parties (COP15), held in Kigali. The two-day meeting brought together ministers, policymakers, and disaster managemen

Rwandan  Jean Chrysostome Ngabitsinze, former Minister of Trade and Industry, has been elected as the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and head of the African Risk Capacity (ARC). ARC is a specialized agency of the African Union that supports countries in preparing for and responding to natural disasters. Prof. Ngabitsinze succeeds Eva Grace Kavuma from Uganda. His election was confirmed on Monday, April 29, during the Fifteenth Session of the ARC Conference of the Parties (COP15), held in Kigali. The two-day meeting brought together ministers, policymakers, and disaster management experts from across the continent. Olivier Kamana, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, was also unanimously elected as Chairperson of the ARC Bureau. Ngabitsinze served as Rwanda’s Minister of Trade and Industry from July 2022 until August 2024. Prior to that, he was the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources from March 2020, having previously held the position of Minister of State in the same ministry. Among other key roles, Ngabitsinze was a Member of Parliament, where he chaired the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). He also served as a Senior Lecturer in Agricultural Economics at the University of Rwanda. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Milan in Italy, a master’s degree in Economics from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, and a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Ngabitsinze has also served on several national boards, including the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB), and he chaired the National Land Commission.