COMMUNIQUE OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EMMANUEL SINZOHAGERA, SPEAKER OF THE SENATE OF THE REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI ON THE 11TH CONFERENCE AND THE 12TH MEETING OF THE ASSECAA COUNCIL

Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco,

Wednesday, March 3, 2022

Theme: “Afro-Arab cooperation and solidarity, fundamental pillar of           economic rehabilitation and development in the context of              the Covid-19 pandemic”

1. COVID-19 has severely impacted different countries in the world and cost the lives of hundreds of Afro-Arab cooperation and solidarity, a fundamental pillar of economic rehabilitation and development in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic thousands of people.
2. COVID-19 has no limits. There is no region in the world that is immune to the virus. The whole world has the mission of defeating the virus, stabilizing the economy and ensuring the population’s well-being.
3. We don’t know when the virus will be completely eradicated. We must conduct health response and economic activities in parallel. More specifically, it is necessary to promote employment within the Afro-Arab space, to highlight the new modes and forms of economic activities which have appeared in the health context in order to properly develop the emerging sectors. We must keep on strengthening the sharing of experiences in terms of health response; we must keep on promoting cooperation related to the increasing of humanitarian aid to vulnerable populations. We also need to commit ourselves much more in the fight against infectious diseases, AIDS, tuberculosis… which are still causing enormous damage – and in the strengthening of food security.
4. No Government can, by its own, deal with this threat. It is through solidarity and cooperation that countries can overcome the ravages of this scourge. Only a collective response will defeat this pandemic. To achieve this, we have to strengthen information sharing and exchange of experience, adopt strong measures for protection, treatment and provide more assistance to countries in need in order to help them overcome COVID-19.
5. Faced with this health challenge, Burundi has received support from many partners. Thanks to the efforts of the Government together with the population and the coordination of the structures put in place, strong measures have been taken, making it possible to mitigate the situation and obtain encouraging results.
6. We have the duty of creating a favorable environment to the fight against covid-19 by contributing to the handling of conflicts. The Countries in conflict are the weak links in this global health battle. The parties in conflict must leave the battlefields to focus on the fight against covid-19.
7. Most of the time, some countries are imposed sanctions while they have to face the multiple security challenges and the fight against covid-19. There are many examples in Africa. We must use all our influence so that the unilateral sanctions and other coercive measures, in all their forms, imposed on those countries are lifted in order to create suitable conditions to the achievement of the sustainable development goals.
8. Together, we shall better be able to deal with the multiple consequences of covid-19, assess them and respond to them successfully and in a perfectly coordinated manner. The covid-19 pandemic has been a stark and painful reminder that no one is safe until everyone is safe. Without security, there is no economic recovery, no sustainable development.
9. As Mr. Wang Yi, State Counselor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, said so well, at the extraordinary session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, ”Let us pursue the vision of a community with a shared future for humanity and let us move forward with determination, through this difficult period, towards the dawn of victory’’.

Thank you for your kind attention.