On advocacy for the release of airline blocked funds in Burundi, AFRAA Secretary General Abderahmane Berthé and Raphael Kuuchi, Director Government, Legal, and Industry Affairs, met the Governor of the Bank of the Republic of Burundi, Dieudonné Murengerantwari, this week to discuss practicable solutions to remedy blocked funds in Burundi.
AFRAA Leadership was accompanied by various representatives of AFRAA member airlines with operations in Burundi that are impacted by the blocked funds situation, including: Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, RwandAir, and Uganda Airlines.
The deliberations with the Burundi Central Bank Governor on how to support the efficient operations of airlines was “very fruitful” said AFRAA. Specifically, the Central Bank committed to facilitate the repatriation of the proceeds of airlines’ sales. AFRAA stated that it “appreciates the Burundi Central Bank Governor's and his team's openness to come up with practicable solutions to remedy the situation very soon”.
"AFRAA calls upon governments to consider Aviation as a priority sector and reduce the level of blocked funds," Berthé stated.