Belgian and Burundian officials have identified education, health, agriculture, and law and order as the main beneficiaries of a 60 million euro (US $12.5 million) grant from Belgium for development projects in 2007-2009, officials said on Friday.
The announcement was made in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, at the end of a two-day meeting of the Belgium-Burundi joint commission, the first such cooperation between the two countries since civil war broke out in Burundi in 1993.
The Belgian minister for development cooperation, Armand de Decker, said all the "sectors identified for funding will contribute to the improvement of the quality of life and the reduction of poverty". Belgium announced the grant last week.
Burundi's minister of external relations and cooperation, Antoinette Batumubwira, said the fund would boost agriculture and livestock in the northern province of Kirundo, a region that often experiences a serious food shortage. Part of the grant would also be used to help war-affected people in the eastern province of Ruyigi, she added.
Apart from these sectors, Batumubwira said, there were others such as good governance and restoring the rule of law that would also benefit from the Belgian grant.
"They were not in the past perceived as motors for development on the same footing as agriculture but without rule of law, all efforts for economic development will be annihilated," she said.
De Decker, who has been visiting the country since Tuesday, renewed his country's commitment to help Burundi, its former colony, to consolidate its democratic process. He said Belgium expected Burundi to adopt an all-inclusive policy to ensure the democratic process was consolidated for the country's stability.
"Burundi’s democracy is young and we know that it is not easy for the new government. We will help Burundi in that way [democratisation]," he said.
Despite a 13-year civil war in the country that ended in 2005, Belgium’s aid to Burundi did not stop. Batumubwira said Belgium's funding of development projects marked the transition from humanitarian aid to lasting development-oriented cooperation.
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The announcement was made in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, at the end of a two-day meeting of the Belgium-Burundi joint commission, the first such cooperation between the two countries since civil war broke out in Burundi in 1993.
The Belgian minister for development cooperation, Armand de Decker, said all the "sectors identified for funding will contribute to the improvement of the quality of life and the reduction of poverty". Belgium announced the grant last week.
Burundi's minister of external relations and cooperation, Antoinette Batumubwira, said the fund would boost agriculture and livestock in the northern province of Kirundo, a region that often experiences a serious food shortage. Part of the grant would also be used to help war-affected people in the eastern province of Ruyigi, she added.
Apart from these sectors, Batumubwira said, there were others such as good governance and restoring the rule of law that would also benefit from the Belgian grant.
"They were not in the past perceived as motors for development on the same footing as agriculture but without rule of law, all efforts for economic development will be annihilated," she said.
De Decker, who has been visiting the country since Tuesday, renewed his country's commitment to help Burundi, its former colony, to consolidate its democratic process. He said Belgium expected Burundi to adopt an all-inclusive policy to ensure the democratic process was consolidated for the country's stability.
"Burundi’s democracy is young and we know that it is not easy for the new government. We will help Burundi in that way [democratisation]," he said.
Despite a 13-year civil war in the country that ended in 2005, Belgium’s aid to Burundi did not stop. Batumubwira said Belgium's funding of development projects marked the transition from humanitarian aid to lasting development-oriented cooperation.
jb/js/mw
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