{"id":2168,"date":"2014-11-19T09:05:14","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T08:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/blogs\/english\/?p=2168"},"modified":"2016-07-18T14:14:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T14:14:46","slug":"burundi-trade-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/burundi-trade-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"Burundi Trade Fair"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Burundi Investment Promotion Authority (API) organized a three day (10-12th November) exhibition, highlighting the benefits of the investment code for investors. The 10-12 November trade fair was the first of its kind.<\/strong>-By Diane Uwimana<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Exhibitors<\/a>

Exhibitors showing their products to the
visitors \u00a9Iwacu<\/p><\/div>\n

The fair is organized to inform the public about achievements made by certified manufacturers. \u201cWe also want to give an opportunity to investors to partner with Burundian enterprises\u201d, says Antoine Kabura, the Director of API.
\n\u201cAt the end of this exhibition, we expect to inform the public and sensitize them on our activities, achievements, the functioning of API and in specific the advantages of the investment code such as access to markets, capital transfer, tax advantages, freedom of establishment, business environment, work permits, property ownership, etc.\u201d
\nAt the exhibition, different products were found at \u2018Palais des Arts et de la culture\u2019 -where the event took place- including tea, flour, bread, iron sheet, clothes, newspapers, cement and soap. About 30 tents representing 30 manufacturers were present.<\/p>\n

Participants were delighted with the event. \u201cIt is a great opportunity for us to show our products. It will attract more clientele\u201d, says Sandrine Munezero, who works for Afritextile, a local company which produces the traditional \u2018Kitenge\u2019 cloth. She goes on sayingthat many people thought that the towel and clothes industry didn\u2019t exist in Burundi any more since the former Cotebu manufacturing society went bank rupt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have reduced the price for this trade fair, because we want to advertise our products\u201d, says Munezero. A piece of Kitenge sold at the market at an estimated amount of BIF 18.000 was reduced to BIF 14.000.
\nAntoine Kabura, Director of API, mentions that about 5092 enterprises opened since the creation of API in 2010, of which 291 have received the certificate for the investment code advantages. \u201cThese manufacturers have an estimated turnover of BIF 1 178 bn and created 15 191 jobs\u201d, Kabura claims.
\nHe highlights the sharing of experiences, legal advice, suggestions and recommendations during the different workshops organized by API and other institutions.<\/p>\n

However, entrepreneurs mention that some challenges still constraint heir activities. \u201cIn the Reviewed Finance Law 2014, two advantages are deleted such as tax credit and VAT on imports. We hope that these two elements are restored in the 2015 budget\u201d, one of the participants from Buceco cement company, points out.
\nTabu Abdallah Manirakiza, Minister of Finances indicates that Burundi belongs to many regional and sub-regional communities. Investors must compete with others in these organizations -mainly EAC- in terms of economic growth and business climate. \u201cWe ensure that after sharing experiences and learning from the trade fair, investorswill produce more\u201d, he states.
\nCertified Manufacturers at the fair include entrepreneurs in agro-business, infrastructure, industries, mining, tourism and the social sector. Investors from the EAC and beyond attended the exhibition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Burundi Investment Promotion Authority (API) organized a three day (10-12th November) exhibition, highlighting the benefits of the investment code for investors. The 10-12 November trade fair was the first of its kind.-By Diane Uwimana The fair is organized to inform the public about achievements made by certified manufacturers. \u201cWe also want to give an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[704,244],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2720,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168\/revisions\/2720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}