BUJUMBURA November 6th (ABP) – The President of the Republic of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimiye opened on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 in Bujumbura, the national private sector forum in Burundi 1st edition under the theme: “Leveraging private sector investments to economic transformation, job creation and inclusive growth.”
The Head of State first recalled that this forum is the implementation of the recommendation resulting from the national forum on the development of Burundi held in 2021, saying the establishment of a framework for dialogue of the private sector. According to him, this forum will help to identify the major constraints that hinder the participation of the private sector in the development of Burundi, in order to establish the political and regulatory reforms necessary to ensure the growth of the private sector in Burundi. He also added that the private sector is the main provider of jobs in Burundi, and that the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and support for entrepreneurship constitute one of the priorities of the Burundian State.
The number one Burundian took the opportunity to point out to the investors who were present in this forum that Burundi has many assets including quality agricultural production, coffee, tea, fruits, vegetables, sugar, fish and other fish that can be transformed into products that can be marketed locally, regionally and internationally. He did not fail to mention the existence of minerals on most of the national territory, specifying that the State and investors in the mining sector are in the process of making a win-win partnership so that this sector generates more income compared to previous years.
The President of the Republic of Burundi advised industrialists to work in accordance with the requirements of the law, deploring the closure of certain processing units, especially those which manufacture ginger-based juice which do not respect the standards of hygiene and quality of the BBN. He also invited the services responsible for supervising the initiatives of small and medium-sized enterprises, to provide local supervision to ensure consumers a healthy product and so that nothing will happen as before.
To encourage the private sector, he indicated that the State of Burundi has put in place several initiatives including PAEEJ, BIJE, BIDF, FIGAS and other mechanisms aimed at improving the development of the private sector. He invited Burundi’s development partners to support these mechanisms because the resources available to the government of Burundi are not sufficient.
The Head of State encouraged the promotion of the digitization of public services to improve services to citizens and the private sector. He encouraged investors in the digital sector which will enable Burundi to achieve a better digital economy and the digitization of the financial sector. He invited all Burundian people to abandon the culture of keeping money at home, but to keep money in banks and let the money circulate for the financing of projects and to avoid tax evasion.
With regard to foreign investors, the Head of State indicated that the government of Burundi has taken relief measures for the private sector in terms of the foreign exchange market and economic liberalization reforms will have to continue, above all the development of the sector of justice to ensure the protection of investors.
The President of the Republic of Burundi ended his speech by saying that this national forum of the private sector will be organized every year, and is called “UMUZINGA DAY”, a day which will be considered as a framework for exchange to identify the real economic operators and the agents of underdevelopment.
It should be noted that this forum saw the participation of the Prime Minister, the members of the government, the parliamentarians, the executives of the presidency of the Republic and the prime minister, the representatives of the diplomatic and consular corps accredited in Bujumbura, the group of the World Bank, industrialists, foreign investors.