GITEGA March 12th (ABP) – The Minister of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism, Mrs. Marie-Chantal Nijimbere, recommended that private economic operators actively invest in productive sectors to target exports. It was during a meeting that she organized on Thursday, March 7, 2024, for traders, owners of bars and restaurants and hoteliers in the province of Gitega (center of the country), a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
Mrs. Nijimbere noted that the country relies heavily on the economic operator sector to make a remarkable leap in its vision of an emerging Burundi in 2024 and developed in 2060.
However, she urged them to work in compliance with the requirements of the Burundian Standardization Bureau (BBN). That structure has the mission of controlling the quality of products manufactured both locally and imported, recalled Minister Nijimbere. Violators of that injunction will be subject to sanctions, she insisted.
The minister was referring to the manufacturers of alcoholic beverages even though they have operating licenses for the production of juices.
In terms of exchanges, the participants in the meeting recommended to the BBN to allocate units in all production companies to properly monitor the quality of products. As an example, they cited the case of concrete bars, sheets and metal tubes which are produced in factories in Bujumbura which deserve particular attention. Thus, they expressed concerns about the durability of infrastructure built at height using construction materials of questionable quality.
Managers of production companies also raised the shortage of certain basic necessities, notably drinks produced at BRARUDI, cement and sugar.
In response to those concerns, Minister Nijimbere replied that in most cases that results from the poor distribution of those products. Thus, she asked the members of the committees in charge of trade in Gitega to get actively involved in putting an end to those shortages.
Regarding the traders whose rights to purchase stands at the Gitega central market were withdrawn, Minister Nijimbere could not have been clearer. “Those traders made a mistake by renting those stands. They did not have the right to do so because the State had given them to them exclusively for commercial use,” the minister clarified.