Return of the Senate Speaker from Switzerland

On October 20, 2024, the Senate Speaker, Right Honourable Emmanuel Sinzohagera returned from a working mission to Geneva, Switzerland where he participated in the work of the 149^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which was held from October 14 to 17 under the theme “Exploiting science, technology and innovation for a more peaceful and sustainable future”.

The Senate Speaker said that before taking part in this Assembly, he first participated in a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie, PAF, at which he had the opportunity to draw the attention of the leaders of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (PAF) to the trend of making the French language disappear, and proposed that French must be preserved and do everything to officially integrate it into the community of East African countries. He took this opportunity to ask for the abandonment of Burundi’s contributions on behalf of the association during the entire period of its suspension in the activities of the PAF.

Right Honourable Emmanuel Sinzohagera indicated that during the 149^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, they exchanged at length on issues related to the use of the internet and concluded that the world must use Artificial Intelligence and that parliaments must put in place rules and laws to counter its potential effects.

In this Assembly, the Speaker of the Upper House of Parliament said that he expressed his doubts that the increased use of science and technology can continue to widen inequalities between developed and developing countries. To this end, he asked developed countries to support developing ones so that they do not lag behind in science and technology.

On the sidelines of this Assembly, the Senate Speaker met with the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. Their meeting focused on strengthening cooperation between this institution and the Burundi Parliament and strengthening the parliamentarians and Parliament Officials capacities, especially in the field of communication.

Other delegations that were received by the Right Honourable Sinzohagera were the delegation of the Russia Senate and a delegation of the Belgium Parliament. Their exchange focused on exploring ways and means of cooperation between their institutions.

After this assembly, the Senate Speaker participated in a workshop aimed at discussing disasters caused by climate change. In this regard, the Senate Speaker presented the achievements already made in protecting the environment, including large-scale tree planting.