BUJUMBURA May 6th (ABP) – The Minister of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism, Mrs. Marie Chantal Nijimbere, presented on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, in Bujumbura, the report on the achievements made during the third quarter of the FY 2021-2022, relating to the strengthening of good governance, the sectors of trade, transport, industry, crafts, tourism as well as the sector of standardization and quality control, a check on the site by ABP revealed.
Minister Nijimbere said he was satisfied with the results of the work of each of her collaborators, before asking them to double their efforts during this last quarter so that they can accomplish all the tasks planned for the 2021-2022 financial year.
As part of the strengthening of good governance, the Minister in charge of Trade cited a lot of activities that have been carried out, including participation in a retreat organized on March 18, in Gitega, by the Head of State, Mr. Evariste Ndayishimiye, for the senior officials of the said ministry and the signing of a letter of agreement with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as part of the financing of the development of a national strategy of e-commerce.
Regarding the trade sector, Minister Nijimbere reported having carried out 126 fields to certain markets of the Bujumbura City Hall (Kamenge, Kinama, Ngagara, Cotebu, Chez Sion, Ruvumera, Jabe, Musaga and Kanyosha) and in the Kayanza, Makamba and Gitega provinces in the context of monitoring the evolution of prices and stocks of strategic and essential products.
In the same line of ideas, Mrs. Nijimbere noted that Burundi participated in the Senior Trade Officials Meeting on Trade in Services in Mombasa, Kenya, from March 8 to 10, 2022 and the 7th and 8th meeting of the Committee on Trade in Services of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAf) from 14 to 20 March 2022 and from 11 to 14 April 2022.
Among the activities carried out in the transport sector is the signing in Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania) on March 7, 2022 of a tripartite memorandum of understanding on the Uvinza-Musongati-Gitega-Bujumbura-Kindu railway project and the signing, on February 28, 2022, between the government of Burundi and that of China, of an agreement relating to the implementation of the project for the rehabilitation, modernization and extension of the Melchior Ndadaye international airport.
In the industrial sector, Minister Nijimbere reported that the national industrialization policy and its implementation strategy were launched on March 30, 2022 in Gitega, while in the crafts sector, 4,895 artisans and craft units were identified in Kirundo, Karusi, Cibitoke, Bujumbura Mairie, Gitega and Kayanza provinces. In the tourism sector, trips have been made to all the provinces of the country in order to identify new tourist sites, she added.
As for future prospects, the Minister of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism indicated that her ministry will focus its efforts on essential and non-exhaustive activities including, among others, the continuation of the surveillance activity of the market and monitoring of economic activity to protect the consumer against the speculative practices of certain traders and against expired or dangerous products, without forgetting the continuation of actions already undertaken.
As for the fuel shortage, Minister Nijimbere said that it is a global economic situation that does not spare Burundi. She reported that the government is making every effort to be able to stabilize the situation and adapt to it. Regarding the shortage of cement from BUCECO and sugar from SOSUMO, she indicated that the demand has exceeded the supply following the increase in the population, thus calling on the various economic operators to invest in the extension of those processing industries.