Photography experts assess Burundi`s integration benefits in EAC

--> Four experts sent by the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat Sunday began a three-day visit in Burundi to take pictures depicting benefits of the integration of Burundi in the EAC region and discover the east African country' s touristic sites, Burundian EAC affairs minister said here after meeting the EAC delegates on Monday.

"The pictures they are taking in Burundi will help Burundians, the EAC member states and other people far from our region know the benefits that Burundi got from the integration in the EAC," said Burundian East African Community (EAC) Affairs Minister Leontine Nzeyimana.She said the experts will also visit touristic sites in a bid to make a database that will be posted on a website.Nzeyimana said, "Many people don't know what we're gaining from the EAC integration. As pictures talk more than words, many people will be aware of the achievements of the integration and will discover the beauty of Burundi."

According to her, the experts will notably visit road infrastructures, the Port of Bujumbura, border posts and the office where lorry drivers from the EAC region learn the prevention of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. Those experts in photography are touring the five EAC member states to assess the benefits of integration in the EAC.    The tour has already taken them to Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda. After Burundi, they are to leave for Uganda on Tuesday, the last leg of their tour.
Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday downgraded the forecast for global economic growth of 2012 to 3.3 percent in the World Economic Outlook unveiled in Tokyo before the IMF-World Bank 2012 annual meetings.

"The world recovery continues, but it has weakened further. In advanced countries, growth is now too low to make a substantial dent in unemployment, and in major emerging countries, growth which had been strong earlier has also decreased," said the IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard on the press conference. The IMF downgraded the global economic growth assessment for 2012 by 0.2 percent to 3.3 percent in the latest report. IMF also revised the forecast for 2013 from 1.8 percent down to 1.5 percent for advanced countries, and from 5.8 percent down to 5.6 percent for emerging and developing countries.

Olivier said, the low growth in developed countries is affecting the developing countries through exports, so the growth of the countries like China, India and Brazil will be lower than recent past for some time. But he said the IMF has seen the positive policy measurers being taken in the three countries. As for the Euro Zone, the IMF suggested if the long-term and the short-term measures could work effectively, there is reason to believe the most difficult time for Europe will pass soon, the recovery will begin in 2013.

The Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF each year bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness. This year's Annual Meetings will be held in Tokyo, October 9-14, 2012.  (Xinhua)