05/12/2011 (East Africa Business Week) - Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza has invited investors to take advantage of the opportunities in the Lake Tanganyika basin.

"I would like to make a pressing appeal to potential investors, those of EAC, COMESA, SADC, The United States of America, China, Japan, Europe, India among others to come and invest in the Lake Tanganyika Basin," he said.

He said that the basin has got a number of investment opportunities that exist in the tourism, transport, agriculture and mining sectors, among others.

"It (Lake Tanganyika Basin) is inhabited by a population of over twenty million. It has a huge potential in water, including Lake Tanganyika and its basin, that we could operate effectively and efficiently to produce electrical energy needed to ensure industrial development in the region," he said.

The EAC-organized conference on the theme "Unlocking the Overflowing Trade and Investment Opportunities in the Basin," was held at the Hotel Source du Nil and Roca Golf Hotel last week.

The President daid that the basin is also an area of high agricultural potential, producing palm oil, sugar, fruits and vegetables of high quality among others.

He noted that the creation and improvement of port infrastructure in the Basin to boost transport would  open up the region and accelerate integration, especially as the Basin is shared by the three regional blocs of EAC, COMESA and SADC, which have already formed a Tripartite framework to foster cooperation.