BUJUMBURA, December 6th (ABP) – Burundi and China signed, in Bujumbura, on 3 December 2024, a grant agreement of 100,000,000 Yuan, equivalent to approximately 14,000,000 US dollars, which China has granted to Burundi. At the signing ceremonies, Burundi was represented by Albert Shingiro, Minister for International Cooperation, while the Chinese side was represented by Zhao Jiangping, Chinese Ambassador to Burundi.
After the signing ceremonies, the Chinese ambassador to Burundi said that the signing of that economic and technical cooperation agreement between the two countries was a concrete expression of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s promises of support for Burundi. That was during his bilateral face-to-face meeting with President Evariste Ndayishimiye at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC 2024), held in Beijing from 2 to 6 September.
The areas to be covered by that cooperation include agriculture, infrastructure, trade and capacity building, she pointed out.
To that end, Jiangping said that the Chinese Embassy in Burundi was working hard to make Chinese investors aware of Burundi’s potential for investment. He pointed out that Chinese businessmen would be present at the Investors’ Round Table, organised by the Burundi government from 5 to 6 December 2024. The Chinese ambassador to Burundi pointed out that China is committed to supporting Burundi in achieving its vision.
For his part, Albert Shingiro made it known that the donation that China has just made to Burundi is without counterpart. He expressed Burundi’s gratitude to China for that gesture of friendship, solidarity and brotherhood between the Burundian and Chinese peoples. Shingiro hailed the excellent relations of friendship and cooperation between Burundi and China. For him, those relations, which span more than 60 years, ‘have withstood the vagaries of time and the seasons, because they are built on rock and not sand’. Continuing, he pointed out that those relations ‘are built on the principle of solidarity, respect and mutual trust, through pragmatic cooperation that has always materialised in a win-win spirit’.
The head of Burundi’s diplomacy said that China remains a reliable and sincere partner for Burundi, thanks to its multi-faceted and multi-sector support, which touches on all aspects of national life. ‘It (China) has been a partner through thick and thin, attentive to our country’s development’, said Shingiro, noting that Burundi, like other countries in the Global South, see China as a source of inspiration for achieving sustainable and inclusive development.
According to Shingiro, the good relations between Burundi and China have made it possible to initiate and carry out projects and programmes in several sectors of national life. That is in line with the implementation of Burundi’s national development plan and the vision of making Burundi an emerging country by 2040 and a developed country by 2060.
While stressing that the process of industrialising Burundi is as vital as that of building infrastructure, he called on China to speed up and intensify its efforts to support Burundi’s industrialisation.