DOHA March 8th (ABP) – The President of the Republic of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye, declared, on Sunday March 5, 2023 in Doha, Qatar, in his speech at the official opening of the 5th United Nations conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), that “the six priorities that constitute the Doha action program appeal to Burundi because it has already integrated them into its policies”.
That conference, launched by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who called on the rich countries to help the LDCs to emerge from poverty, revolves around the theme: “From the potential to prosperity”.
On that occasion, President Ndayishimiye pointed out that Burundi has already taken ownership of the Doha action program which is structured around six priority areas of action, which support the efforts already undertaken by the Government as a whole.
Indeed, he pointed out, the first priority of this program is to invest in the human capital of the least developed countries. It reinforces the initiatives of the government of Burundi which has established its strategy to fight against poverty through the slogan “Every mouth should have food and every pocket, money” while involving all citizens in development activities.
Moreover, he added, by combining the demographic dividend with skills development, the Burundian government has placed young people and women at the center of development. Through a major program of economic empowerment and job creation for young people, the President of Burundi continued to say, a youth investment bank has been set up. In addition, there is a women’s bank, and financial and technical assistance to production cooperatives at the level of each village of the country, he said.
With regard to the second priority area relating to the exploitation of the means offered by science, technology and innovation to fight against multidimensional vulnerabilities, the Head of State of Burundi is pleased with the momentum that the Government has already taken by investing in infrastructure through the deployment of optical fiber throughout the national territory and making digitalization a priority in order to take advantage of digital growth.
As for the support for the structural transformation engine of prosperity, he pointed out that in Burundi, agriculture is the most promising sector of growth, which justifies the efforts made by the government to develop that sector through a change of mentality in order to make the profession of agriculture, a profession of the future. To do this, he added, all categories of the Burundian population are mobilized to strengthen the agricultural value chain where even foreign investors are encouraged to be part of that chain within the framework of the partnership of investors with the agricultural cooperatives.
The 5th priority of the Doha action program appeals to Burundi to deal with climate change and environmental degradation. Here, the President of the Republic of Burundi mentioned the national reforestation program “Ewe Burundi urambaye” which consists of Environmental Protection.
President Ndayishimiye believes in this regard that advanced countries must convince themselves that it is time to support the initiatives and development programs of LDCs in order to boost their economies. “It is a particular hope for Burundi, for the international community and all the other LDCs which project themselves in the next 10 years”, he declared.
In addition, he made a strong appeal to the advanced countries to support Burundi its significant effort aimed at reducing the degree of vulnerability and achieving the sustainable development goals.