On Wednesday March 13, 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation organized an awareness workshop on legal and regular migration for the administrative staff at the Hôtel les Plateaux in the Ngozi province. That workshop was held as part of supporting the implementation of the agreement signed between the Republic of Burundi and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on October 3, 2023 on labor migration.
The participants in the workshop were the administrators of all the communes of the provinces of Ngozi, Karusi, Muyinga, and Kirundo, the municipal commissioners in charge of migration, an executive from the anti-trafficking commission, an executive from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Community Development and Public security as well as some executives from the Ministry in charge of Foreign Affairs.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation Mr. Ferdinand Bashikako who opened the activities indicated that the Government of Burundi, by signing the agreements on labor migration with certain countries destination, wanted the emergence of Burundi fully integrated and competitive on the regional and international level in which the free movement of goods and services is easy beyond the national borders. With that free movement, the socio-economic development of the country becomes easy to achieve an Emerging Burundi in 2040 and Developed in 2060. The objective of the workshop was the popularization of the legal texts relating to the safe and secure regular migration so that the population knows how the labor migration is organized. That is why that workshop was organized.
The Chief of Staff of the Governor of Ngozi Province thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation for organizing that workshop.
At the end of this workshop, the participants expressed their concerns and suggestions. They suggested the decentralization of recruitment agencies so that the project is understood and facilitated at the national level, severely punish those who recruit children under 18, punish those who carry out fraudulent actions relating to it, and create a broad platform – trains in all sectors of the country to learn about the fraudulent actions on the labor migration. They also suggested the creation of a diplomatic mission from the country of Saudi Arabia to facilitate the work.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation Mr. Ferdinand Bashikako, in his closing speech, gave an explanation on the creation of a diplomatic mission of Saudi Arabia, saying that the relations between Burundi and the Saudi Arabia are normally good although Saudi Arabia has not yet created its diplomatic mission in Burundi.