KIGALI - One thousand trees were planted yesterday at Groupe Scolaire Ntarama , as Bralirwa, Rwanda’s largest alcoholic and soft drinks maker, launched its tree planting campaign in Bugesera District, Eastern Province.

Bralirwa staff, joined by the officials from the army, police, and students and staff of the school planted trees around the school premises.

According to a statement, Bralirwa has since 2007 been supporting planting of trees in schools through ‘Companie Agricole Environment’, a company charged with environmental protection in the Districts of Kicukiro in Kigali City, Bugesera and Nyagatare in the Eastern Province.

Speaking at the event, Sven Piederient, Bralirwa’s Managing Director, said they have so far planted 27,000 trees in Kicukiro, Nyagatare and Bugesera districts.

"This is part of our mission to respect the society we live in by protecting the environment and it is part of our of sustainability programme to plant trees,” he said.

"We believe that Bralirwa as a good corporate company should take a proactive role and show the population that together we can do something to protect the environment.”

He added that his company is targeting to plant 50,000 trees during this year’s campaign and also carry out public awareness on environment conservation.

"We have been engaged in a tree planting initiative involving more than 15,000 schoolchildren from 22 primary and secondary schools in Nyagatare, Bugesera and Kicukiro,” he explained.

"We believe that schools provide the best platform where corporate entities can raise awareness on critical issues that affect the society and we think that this project offers us an opportunity to participate in changing community behaviour towards environmental protection.”

Christopher Bazivamo, the Minister of Forests and Mines, commended Bralirwa for coming up with such a good initiative which is in line with government’s vision of protecting the environment by planting trees.

He urged students and the staff of Groupe Scolaire Ntarama to look after the trees with care so that they won’t be damaged.

"Every Rwandan has the responsibility of protecting the environment by planting trees in the communities they live in,” said Bazivamo.

Solange Uwamahoro, the Director of the school, hailed Bralirwa for having chosen their school for the tree planting exercise.

"We promise to keep an open eye on these trees we planted so that they grow without any hindrance,” she said.

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