Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Burundi
From March 5 to 7, 2024, H.E Mr Thérence Ntahiraja, Ambassador of the Republic of Burundi to the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the European Union, actively participated, with two of his Diplomatic Advisors, in the French training course on Business Diplomacy organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Secretariat of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).
As Chairman of the Investment and Private Sector Sub-Committee, H.E. Ambassador Thérence NTHIRAJA delivered an opening speech to that training on March 5, 2024.
In addition to H.E. Ambassador Thérence Ntahiraja, two other personalities delivered the opening speeches of the training. Those are respectively the Representative of the EU and the OACPS.
Note that H.E. Ambassador Thérence Ntahiraja actively accompanied the participants of that training during the three days of training.
Under the theme; “taking advantage of the diplomatic network of ACP countries to promote the sustainable investments”, that training is part of the “ACP Business-Friendly” Program implemented at the meso level by UNIDO and financed by the OACPS and the EU. Through that program, UNIDO supports the investment promotion institutions and agencies in 8 pilot countries (Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Senegal and Zambia) for better investment promotion and facilitative support to the domestic and foreign investors in order to be spread to other OACPS countries.
That training in Business Diplomacy was designed for providing the diplomatic Staff of OACPS Embassies with the knowledge and tools necessary to leverage the potential of business diplomacy for the promotion of the sustainable investments by aiming to achieve the following objectives:
Understand the main drivers, risks and pitfalls of business diplomacy, while strategically targeting and attracting the investors; master the effective communication strategies and image creation, including through the digital business diplomacy and the potential of the diaspora and regional cooperation in promoting the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); leverage partnerships between the national investment promotion agencies and business diplomats, including through the digital tools, for the promotion of national and regional investments; raise awareness of the new subjects that influence the dynamics and determinants of Foreign Direct Investment.
On the program, a few topics were discussed, namely:
The definition of business diplomacy; the commercial diplomacy; the new formats of business diplomacy; the communication strategy for business diplomacy; the strategy for interacting with an investor; the universe of the foreign direct investments; the case studies, etc.
At the end of the training, it was noted that the diplomatic network of OACP countries, being permanently present in strategic markets abroad, can considerably strengthen the impact of the efforts of the Investment Promotion Agencies (APIs) for attracting and facilitating the foreign direct investment (FDI) aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.
In conclusion, that training is beneficial for the Embassy of Burundi in Brussels. It will be an excellent tool that the Embassy of Burundi in Brussels will use during the conference organizing on April 19, 2024 on investment opportunities in Burundi for attracting the potential Belgian and the European investors to invest in Burundi and the promotion of the image of Burundi.
