DRC and Burundi expand aviation cooperation
Initially scheduled from 10 to 12 August, the fourth DRC-Burundi joint grand commission was finally held in Kinshasa from 31 August to 2 September. The meeting enabled the two parties to initial several agreements, including one in the field of air transport.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi are driven by the desire to promote regional integration. The two neighbours signed on 3 September in Kinshasa, DRC, an amendment to the bilateral agreement on air services relating to the creation of air bridges between the two countries.
The document was signed on the sidelines of the DRC-Burundi joint commission by Congolese Transport Minister Cherubin Okende and Burundian Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation Minister Albert Shigiro.
For Burundian Minister Shigiro, the first agreement - signed in 2016 - "suffered from some shortcomings". Whereas, its "much broader" readjustment now allows "to establish air bridges between Burundi and the DRC from several cities practically on all points of entry into the two countries, while the first agreement was only focused on the city of Kinshasa".
This rider, which further consolidates exchanges between the two countries, now takes into account the airports of Goma, Lubumbashi and Bukavu because of their proximity to Burundi.
