Rwanda has moved closer towards Vision 2020 goals following the announcement of a partnership agreement with communications technology and services provider, Ericsson.

On Tuesday at Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Spain Rwanda's ministry of youth and ICT and Ericsson signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see the implementation of the smart Rwanda plan.

Launched in the early 2000s Vision 2020 is part of a development plan aimed at transforming Rwanda's economy from an agriculture dependent country to one driven by knowledge and services.

The smart Rwanda master plan is committed to transforming the economy from agriculture to a knowledge based economy, said Rwanda's minister of youth and ICT Jean-Philbert Nsengimana.

Nsengimana explained that currently the agriculture sector contributes 70% to GDP; however, they anticipate that by 2020 that sector would contribute less and knowledge and services would be the main contributors to the economy.

"We want to shape the future of ICT for development on the continent," said Nsengimana.

According to Frederik Jejdling, Ericsson's president and chief executive officer for sub-Saharan Africa, the collaboration between the ministry and Ericsson is set up to develop 'smart Rwanda' in areas like health and education.

In terms of the partnership Ericsson will be the leading advisory partner and lead system integration, while the ministry will be responsible for the business model approval and facilitation of any necessary policy frameworks, said Jejdling.

"We will continue to support Rwanda in ICT development," said Jejdling.

We think being the ICT transformation partner for Rwanda was a very good match, he said.

The 'smart Rwanda' plan identifies several key areas that will form the focus of the partnership, including agriculture, education, healthcare and business.

This partnership will continue to drive Rwanda into their 2020 vision, and move from focusing on infrastructure towards skills.

Regarding the monetary value of this partnership both Jejdling and Nsengimana declined to comment.