KAYANZA October 31st (ABP) – The Burundi Development Agency (ADB), in partnership with the Center for Development and Enterprises Great Lakes (CDE), organized, last week, an information and popularization workshop on the agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF).
That workshop saw the presence of administrative authorities, representatives of the police and the Burundian revenue office, leaders of women’s associations and collectives, leaders of traders and entrepreneurs from Kayanza, and many other actors to development, we learned on site.
During that workshop, Mr. Aimable Manirakiza, working for the Center for Development and Enterprises Great Lakes (CDE), indicated that Burundi’s membership in that area is extremely important in the sense that it will allow the economic growth, reduction of unemployment as well as development which adapts to the agenda of the African Union. That agenda shows that by 2063, Africa will be a developed continent.
For him, Burundi only has a market of 12 million individuals but with that membership of the ZLECAF, there will be other investors, both foreign and local. That membership will allow local investors to invade a vast African market made up of more than a billion individuals. He says he is confident that that will enable the promotion of intra-African trade and policies to combat poverty as well as product diversity.
Mr. Manirakiza asked the Burundian Government to apply to the letter the content of the ZLECAF agreement, to increase production especially since Burundi has very fertile soil, to put in place protectionist measures and grant opportunities to all those who want to compete.