BUJUMBURA January 20th (ABP) – During the presentation of the results of the achievements of the ADB made in the first semester, on Tuesday January 17, 2023, the Director General of the ADB Didace Ngendakumana said that the ADB adopted in October 2022 its five-year strategic plan.
The Director General of ADB recalled on that occasion that in recent years, specific policies relating to private investment have been put in place by the Burundi government, which wishes to see a growing role for private investment in its sustainable development strategy. Particularly during that presidential term, various actions aimed at raising awareness of investing in Burundi and facilitating business have been carried out. Among those actions, we can cite the creation of the Burundi Development Authority (ADB) to replace the Burundi Investment Promotion Authority (API), which was concretized by Decree 100/255 of November 15, 2021 on the creation, missions, organization and functioning of the Burundi development authority.
He did not fail to point out that despite the activities implemented and the progress initiated, the evaluation of the API strategy 2017-2022 showed that overall, the API has not been able to achieve its strategic objectives because, on the one hand, they were very ambitious in relation to the authority’s financial means, and on the other hand, there was a lack of synergies with other ecosystem structures. Indeed, the majority of the resources raised were dedicated to low impact activities in the area of investments, thus blocking a real effect on the development of the private sector.
According to Mr. Ngendakumana, the ADB is the solution to the challenges encountered by the API in the past, based on the new legal framework which presents aspects facilitating business, also counting on the implementation of the project for employment and the Economic Transformation of Burundi (PRETE), for which the ADB provides the management unit, while affirming that the strategic plan has a solid basis. He specified that the drawing up of that strategy consisted first all in analyzing the current situation.
After carrying out a macroeconomic analysis and evaluating the previous strategic plan, the diagnosis focused on analyzing the maturity of ADB and referred to similar companies in the sub-region and internationally.
He pointed out that ADB’s vision is to become the accelerator of economic growth driven by the private sector. This will be made possible thanks to three pillars, namely the facilitation of private investment, acting as an ecosystem facilitator to build the capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and building export capacity. Those pillars will be supported by three levers which are governance, communication and progressive financial diversification.
In addition, the validation of that strategic plan also concerned the analysis and amendment of the monitoring mechanism in order to ensure the implementation of an effective and efficient strategic plan to guarantee the achievement of results. Monitoring and evaluation will make it possible to learn from experiences in order to improve the projects of the strategic plan, to have internal and external responsibility for the resources used as well as the expected results, to make clear decisions for the future and to orient capacity building.
The Director General of the ADB also indicated that during the first half of 2022-2023, the ADB and the National Bureau of Standardization and Quality Control (BBN) signed a memorandum of understanding in the presence of the Secretary permanent at the Ministry responsible for Trade and representative of the Chairperson of the Association of Industrialists of Burundi (AIB) on August 9, 2022. The memorandum of understanding signed established the framework for collaboration and exchanges between the parties, with a view to promoting exports by facilitating exporting companies to access the regional and international market.
The Director General of the ADB hopes that the various programs implemented will further improve the flow of investments, the business climate and stimulate the growth of the Burundian economy.