BUJUMBURA July 28th (ABP) – The Minister of East African Community Affairs, Youth, Sports and Culture, Mr. Ezéchiel Nibigira, hosted a news conference on Tuesday July 27 to present the results of the annual achievements of his ministry, valid for the period from July 1, 2020 to July 30, 2021, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
According to Minister Nibigira, those achievements are the result of the efforts of the responsible and hard-working government. They cover four key areas of intervention of that ministry, namely the sector of Burundi’s integration within the East African Community, the youth sector, the sports sector, and the culture sector.
In the sector of the integration of Burundi within the East African Community, Mr. Nibigira indicated that the ministry organized, from August 26 to 28, 2020, a workshop to assess the implementation of the protocol establishing the common market of the East African community. The ministry has also initiated the use of the central EAMS system in collecting data on the state of play of the implementation of the said protocol. In addition, awareness-raising and information exchange activities on the evaluation of the gains linked to the integration of Burundi within the East African Community were organized. To that end, they have identified the challenges relating to the various protocols signed within the framework of integration. Officials also developed a sector strategy and the statistical yearbook, 2019 edition, Minister Nibigira said.
In the youth sector, the ministry opened, on January 6, 2021 in Gitega, the first customer accounts of the Youth Investment Bank (BIJE). It also organized capacity building workshops for 500 young entrepreneurs grouped within the various associations.
In the field of sports, the ministry has, in collaboration with the sports federations of Burundi, coordinated and participated in 14 outings carried out abroad in different disciplines, Mr. Nibigira said. He added that the officials of the ministry participated in the organization of the 14th edition of the torch of peace, 2020 edition.
In the culture sector, the Minister in charge of Culture said that the ministry organized the national festival of culture, with the participation of 360 festival-goers from the 18 provinces of the country.
According to Mr. Nibigira, the ministry also organized a meeting for the chairpersons of sports federations and cultural clubs in Burundi.