BUJUMBURA April 1st (ABP) – The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, Ambassador Albert Shingiro declared Thursday that the government of Burundi has set before the objective of migrating from substance agriculture to industrial agriculture. It was during a meeting he held for members of the diplomatic and consular corps accredited to Burundi and international and national organizations, as part of strengthening transparency and mutual trust.
To that end, he said, “Burundi is restoring its place and rank to agriculture”. Thus, the minister encourages national and foreign investors to take more interest in the agro-pastoral sector with particular emphasis on agro-business. The establishment of small and medium-sized production units capable of locally transforming products, in the form of a value chain, will have a positive impact on the country’s economic growth, he said.
Minister Shingiro also notes that the acquisition of agricultural technologies from development partners will make it possible to produce more products, in a short time, and in small spaces and thus produce foreign exchange, as Robert Linhart said: “Agriculture no longer serves to feed the population, but also to produce foreign currency.”
In terms of security, Mr. Shingiro noted that regional efforts to restore peace in the DRC and the region have been made, specifying nevertheless that the Burundian ministry in charge of foreign affairs is deeply concerned by the resurgence of attacks perpetrated by M23 fighters in the east of the DRC, who sow terror and desolation among innocent populations who only aspire to peace and development. Faced with that situation, the minister urges that movement to comply with the decisions taken by the heads of state of the sub-region, within the framework of the Luanda and Nairobi processes.
The ambassador, on that occasion, reiterated the country’s concern over the provocative acts of Rwanda which “mobilizes, recruits and arms Burundian terrorists from the Red Tabara group with a view to destabilizing Burundi.” Towards the end of December 2023, he said, an attack by those terrorists against peaceful sleeping citizens took place in the locality of Gatumba, in the province of Bujumbura, causing numerous losses of human lives. He thus points out that the government of Burundi condemns with its utmost energy all those despicable acts prepared by the thinking mastermind of Red Tabara made up of the 2015 putschists on the run in Rwanda.
He also noted that Burundi will lead all-out efforts to strengthen relations of friendship, fraternity and cooperation through the signing and implementation of agreements in areas of shared interest. The same efforts will be made to diversify partners by adding non-traditional partners to the list as well as expanding the diplomatic map of Burundi by opening diplomatic missions dictated by the interests of the country.
Regarding climate change, Albert Shingiro mentioned that Burundi is aware that sustainable development aims to strive to meet the needs of the present, without compromising the ability to satisfy those of future generations. That, he said, imperatively involves protecting the environment. National initiatives in that area have been undertaken and are continuing resolutely, notably through the “Ewe Burundi Urambaye” project; a project which aims to plant trees on an area of at least 10 ha per year.
To resolve the few challenges linked to climate change, he specified that Burundi reiterated the request from developing countries to developed countries to honor all the commitments made within the framework of the Paris Climate Agreement which consist of pay each annex 10 billion dollars in favor of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, through the green climate fund.
Regarding the area of human rights, the minister declared that the government of Burundi is part of the trajectory of respect for human rights, international and national obligations adding that it has put in place several national mechanisms of protection and promotion of human rights. He thus launched a friendly appeal to EU member states to end the mandate of the special human rights rapporteur for the country in September that year.
That is a mechanism that was created without the cooperation of Burundi to put political pressure on the government of Burundi. Thus, he said, maintaining that mechanism without any added value creates unnecessary and avoidable tensions at a time when relations between the two parties are in a phase of warming and improvement.
Minister Shingiro invited the various delegations to take part in the next round table with development partners scheduled for May 9 to 10, 2024, where it will be a question of discussing how to strengthen the strategic partnership with said partners in the implementation of the Plan. revised National Development Strategy (PND), the National Community Strategy for Development (SNCD) and the Burundi vision emerging in 2040 and developed in 2060.