BurundiRelationsbetween Egypt and BurundiBrief History:
• Egypt is the first Arab and Islamic country to establish diplomatic relations with Burundi after independence in 1962, while the Egyptian embassy was opened on December 8th, 1964.
• Burundi appreciates Egypt's historical role in Africa, and always praises Egypt's continuous support during the Burundian civil war, which lasted more than a dozen of years.
• The two countries have a strong cooperation especially concerning the Egyptian aids to Burundi in capacity building and human developments in various fields.Mutual Visits:
• The visit of interfaith dialogue counselor for the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar to Bujumbura on March 2014 to participate in the Interfaith Conference.
• The visit of a delegation from the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development to Burundi on February 2015 to discuss the Burundian needs of technical support and assistance in the fields of health and traffic planning, in addition to providing universities scholarships for the Burundian students.
• The visit of Mr. Mohamed Rukara, the special adviser to President Pierre Nkurunziza on February 2015, during which he met with H.E. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sis.
• The visit of the 1st Vice President of Burundi to participate in the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh on June 2015.
• H.E. Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, held a meeting with his Burundian counterpart Alain Nyamitwe, on the sidelines of the AU Executive Council meeting in Addis Ababa on January 2016 to discuss the political crisis in Burundi and the results of the UNSC delegation's visit to Bujumbura with the participation of Egypt.
• The visit of Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs, Ambassador Hamdi Loza, to Burundi on January 2016, where he met with H.E. President Pierre Nkurunziza.
• The visit of Burundian Minister of Energy and Mines to participate in the African Smart Grid Forum on March 2016.
• The visit of a delegation of experts from the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, to Burundi on March 2016, to provide technical support and maintenance of the Burundian Electric Network.
• The visit of H.E. Alain Nyamitwe, Burundian Minister of Foreign Affairs, to Cairo on April 2016, during which he met with H.E. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, and the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Economic Relations:
• The trade volume between Egypt and Burundi reached 10.2 million USD in 2014 (Exports from Egypt: 10 million UDS, Imports to Egypt: 200 thousand USD).
• Egypt's exports to Burundi include mixtures of odoriferous substances and malt. Egypt's imports from Burundi include tea.Technical cooperation and assistance:
• Egypt presents through the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) various training courses to Burundi in different fields including trade, transport diplomacy, health, irrigation, water resources management and agriculture. In addition to the Burundian participation in the training courses organized by the different Egyptian Ministers the Ministry of Electricity and the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources.
• The EAPD provided as well different logistic aids to Burundi in the past years, including a medical aid, in cooperation with Heart Science Centre (Magdi Yacoub Institute) in Aswan, of two modern sonar devices to diagnose heart diseases that were delivered to two hospitals in Bujumbura on March 2016.
