BUJUMBURA March 21st (ABP) – The Burundian Prime Minister, Mr. Gervais Ndirakobuca, received in audience on Tuesday March 19 a delegation from the African Development Bank (AfDB), led by Ms. Nnenna Nwabufo, Director General of the AfDB for the East African region, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
In an interview with the media, Mrs. Nwabufo said that their discussions concerned the support that the AfDB provides to the government of Burundi. According to her, the Prime Minister explained that the agricultural sector is a key sector of national life which requires a lot of support.
She thus announced that to support the development of this important sector, the ADB has mobilized an envelope of 80 million dollars, which is added to that of approximately 60 million dollars that the ADB has mobilized from IFAD, its partner.
The total envelope mobilized varies between 140 and 160 million US dollars, said Mrs. Nwabufo, noting that digitalization will be supported by the AfDB. This support, she stressed, is guided by the imperative of having all the statistical data from the agricultural sector in order to put them at the service of better productivity.
Alongside the agricultural sector, the transport sector was mentioned, including the railway. The AfDB has granted Burundi a loan for the construction of a railway that will connect Tanzania, Burundi and the DRC, said Ms. Nwabufo.
Energy and the social sector are other sectors of intervention of the AfDB, according to Mrs. Nwabufo, who welcomed the Prime Minister’s involvement in monitoring the projects that the AfDB is implementing in Burundi. She promised the AfDB’s support for Burundi in terms of debt management.
The AfDB will also continue to support the Burundian government, particularly in the development of policies that encourage the private sector to get involved in the country’s development, added Mrs. Nwabufo