BUJUMBURA March 6th (ABP) – The Minister of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism, Mrs. Marie Chantal Nijimbere, along with senior officials of her ministry, organized on Friday March 3, 2023, a trip to three industries namely Itrapack, Jessy blessing company and Pacobu located in the Ngagara zone of Bujumbura City Council, where she brought together the heads of the various services of those companies.
Minister Nijimbere said that this visit was part of the implementation of government recommendations to organize visits to private companies in order to discuss with officials on the implementation of the content of the labor code. It is also within the framework of encouraging national and international investors to found companies in order to support the sustainable development of the country. After having made that guided visit to the Itrapac industry, which manufactures packaging of different kinds, Mrs. Nijimbere appreciated that the Itrapack company works in accordance with national and international standards.
During the meeting, the Managing Director of Itrapack, Mr. Sophonie Ngendakuriyo, explained to the Minister and her companions that this company manufactures and sells packaging bags for different products, specifying that it produces 71 thousand bags per day and plans to produce up to 200,000 bags in the future. It started in January 2022 and has already hired 743 employees, including 282 women, or 38%.
Mr. Ngendakubwayo also explained to the Minister that the company pays taxes and duties to the Burundi Revenue Authority, OBR. The company also pays contributions within the INSS for the social security of its employees and as well as the supplementary pension, he said.
Afterwards, the minister continued her trip into the Jessy blessing company, which manufactures the salt called Jessy salt. The general manager of that company, Mrs. Niyongere Elfride, clarified that they started in January 2023 and produce 120 tons per day.
She took that opportunity to invite Burundians to consume that salt in order to support society.
Minister Nijimbere asked the government of Burundi to support private companies in order to improve the quality of the services they provide and to help them get markets abroad, because salt is more usable by many people, she asserted.
Before ending the trip, the minister visited the PACOBU (Paper Converter Burundi) company which manufactures notebooks. The general manager of that industry, Mr. Crescent Ndayishimiye, indicated that the results are good but that the lack of raw materials causes them problems. To that end, Mr. Ndayishimiye asked the government to help them have raw materials stored in Tanzania because they are not able to recover them due to lack of foreign currency. For those three companies, the challenges raised in general are the lack of foreign currency, and electricity which does not make their task easy.
Minister Nijimbere answered those questions by pointing out that the government of Burundi is building dams in order to increase electricity throughout the country. For the lack of foreign currency, she invited them to work hard so that they could sell their products in neighboring countries in order to bring foreign currency. She also stressed that the bank of the Republic of Burundi will support them.
Finally, Minister Nijimbere praised the results already achieved by the three companies and encouraged them to continue to do better.