CIBITOKE July 27th (ABP) – A national consultation workshop on women doing cross-border trade bringing together women from the provinces of Cibitoke, Bubanza, Bujumbura and Muramvya who do cross-border trade took place on Friday July 23, at the headquarters of Cibitoke province (north-west of Burundi), a check on the site by ABP revealed.
That workshop, organized by the Ministry in charge of Human Rights in collaboration with that of Trade, with the financial support of the UNDP, aimed to collect the points of view of women engaged in cross-border trade, with a view to contribute to informing about the process of drawing up the additional protocol to the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF) in order to take into account the priorities defined by the women themselves.
According to the organizers, the goal of those national consultations is to allow women to express their needs and interests in cross-border trade, to speak about the challenges they face and to reflect on the recommendations to tackle them.
The representative of the Ministry of Human Rights, Mr. Salvator Ndayegamiye, specified in his opening speech that the ZLECAF started on January 1, 2021 and that Burundi joined it on June 17, 2021. He pointed out the advantages that Burundi will derive from the ZLECAF, including the increase in volume and value of intra-African trade following the reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade with African countries, as well as the acceleration of industrialization in accordance with strategic goals of the 2018-2027 national development plan.
To achieve this, those women must work in cooperatives and make use of ICTs to be able to compete with other women in the sub-region in particular and all of Africa in general, he said.