BUJUMBURA November 15th (ABP) – The Prime Minister of Burundi, Gervais Ndirakobuca received in audience successively the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium in Burundi, Alain Van Gucht and the Head of Mission of the International Organization for Migration in Burundi (IOM), Mrs. Vijaya Souri on Monday, November 14, 2022 at Ntare house.
At the end of the audience, Ambassador Alain Van Gucht indicated that he had come first of all to congratulate the Prime Minister for his new functions and then to lead discussions in relation to the areas of cooperation between their two countries. He said that they will improve the area of development cooperation especially in the sectors of health, agriculture and education. As the projects undertaken in these sectors end with the year 2023, Alain Van Gucht pointed out that they will study how to sustain these projects from 2024. It should be noted that those projects last five years.
The two senior authorities also gave an overview of what can be done in the private sector.
The Prime Minister’s spokesperson, Moïse Nkurunziza, indicated that the Burundian Prime Minister expressed his thanks to the Kingdom of Belgium on behalf of the Burundians for its contribution to the withdrawal of the sanctions imposed against Burundi since 2015. To the concern of Ambassador Alain Van Gucht that sanctions could be taken against Burundians returning from Serbia, as announced by the spokesperson for the Ministry in charge of the Interior, Prime Minister Ndirakobuca reassured him and by this same occasion reassured those Burundians, that no sanction will be taken against them, because, they did not violate any law. Burundi and Serbia have also signed a contract allowing visa-free entry and exit between the two countries.
On leaving the audience, the Head of Mission of the IOM in Burundi indicated that she took advantage of this audience to congratulate Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca for his appointment to the post of Prime Minister and then to be able to go into details on certain issues related to mobility and migration that concern Burundi.
Discussions largely focused on youth employment, the issue of trafficking and smuggling of human beings, support for the reintegration of refugees upon their return, assistance for internally displaced persons affected by natural disasters and all other priority topics related to the mobility of people and migration.
She reported that the exchanges were fruitful with good avenues of collaboration that IOM will support in the coming months.