The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation organizes an Open Doors

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation organized from may 23 to 24, 2023 an Open Doors dedicated to all people. The year’s theme was “Economic Diplomacy for Development in the era of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA)”

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The activities of these Open Doors began with a briefing to the participants on the missions of the Ministry. After, these participants made a guided tour of all the Departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation. Each Managing Director had to ensure the reception of the visitors in the Department for which he is responsible. The President of the commission responsible for organizing the Open Doors, 2023 Edition Mrs. Ancile NTAKABURIMVO informed the press that the objective of the Ministry in organizing the activity was to inform the Burundian public and the Ministry’s partners on various services offered by the Ministry.

The second day of the Open Doors was marked by the presentations on different topics related to the central theme; characteristics of intra-African trade and the future prospects under the ACFTA; Burundi’s mechanism to promote the trade and attract the foreign direct investment within the framework of the ACFTA; towards a successful implementation of the ACFTA agreement for Burundi: Trade arrangements, programs and institutional reforms put in place; Towards a successful implementation of the  ACFTA agreement for Burundi: Adjustment and support measures put in place.

The presenters of the different themes showed in general the advantages that Burundi can derive from the ZLECAF, they cited in particular the expansion of trade following the reduction of the tariffs and the elimination of non-tariff barriers on the continental market. representing 55 countries; the expanded market which will attract the cross-border investment with the significant benefits such as the technology and skills transfer; the implementation of the ACFTA protocol on trade in services which will enable Burundi to achieve its ambition of becoming a services hub on the continent in areas such as transport, financial services and ICT; the ACFTA’s commerce approach which will fuel the integration into regional and continental value chains; Thanks to the ACFTA, Burundi can build the skills and the capacities as well as developthe  trade networks through the regional and continental value chains, etc.

In his speech for the occasion, His Excellency Albert SHINGIRO, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, indicated that the holding of the Open Doors stems from the Government’s desire for strengthening the system put in place and to maintain the achievements of the democratic revival in Burundi on the one hand, and on the other hand to firmly establish good governance which is based on the universal ethics of responsibility which implies in particular a duty of transparency and accountability.

With regard to the future prospects, the Minister reminded that today’s world is a globalized world, an increasingly complex world with multiple challenges, a world more interdependent than ever and in a perpetual change. It is in this perspective that the Government has put in place the new tools and a new approach to defend the strategic and the vital interests of Burundi, said HE Albert SHINGIRO.

“Faced with the local, regional and global challenges, Burundi has decided to act, to chart the path that seems best to it in order to promote the emergence and prevalence of the harmonious ties with the entire international community, hence its abstentionist position, of non-alignment and neutrality on certain highly burning global issues of the hour while contributing positively to them according to the guidelines drawn by the Charter of the United Nations, a universally recognized instrument which must be taxable to all the States of the same way without a policy of double standards,” said the Head of Burundian Diplomacy.

Speaking of the theme of the Open Doors, Edition 2023, HE Albert SHINGIRO indicated that the theme was a part of the components of economic diplomacy and essentially it concerns the promotion of trade. The African Continental Free Trade Area is an intra-African project that the member States have committed to execute in union and to succeed. We believe in it and we will succeed, he added.

In a comfortable atmosphere, the activities of the Open Days ended with a lunch offered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.