A l' occasion du 23 ^e sommet du COMESA qui s' est tenu récemment à Bujumbura, capital of Burundi, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye announced the exemption of short-stay visas in Burundi for nationals of countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a block comprising 21

The visa exemption by Burundi completes the series of measures taken by several African countries to relax entry requirements on their territory. Following this decision, Benin, Seychelles, Rwanda and Gambia are applying a “zero visa upon entry” policy while Ghana and Kenya have announced a similar measure. The 2023 edition of the Africa Visa Openness Index report mentions that a visa is still required in 46% of travel scenarios on the continent, compared to 28% of intra-African travel projects where African citizens do not need a visa. According to the information in this document, “visa policies are essential to strengthen intra-African trade, but...”, visa policy relaxation measures will only make it possible to develop intra-regional trade if they are accompanied by significant investments in transport infrastructure, the facilitation of border control procedures and an improvement in security. on cross-border corridors