Nkurunziza, who travelled to Nanjing to meet with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and attend the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Youth Olympic Games in August, symbolically laid the first stone on the headquarters. 

Among those also present was Burundian International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Lydia Nsekera, as well as the Chinese ambassador, NOC Executive Committee members and several sporting federation representatives.

Special assistance has been provided by the IOC for the project, which is expected to last six months and is taking place in the Kanyosha district of the capital city where the country's Olympic Africa Centre is also located.

Burundi's IOC member and FIFA Executive Committee member, Lydia Nsekera, was among those present at the opening ©Getty Images



An Olympic Stadium is also expected to be developed on the site, with the Government having promised to donate cement, metal and chairs for the construction, as well as sporting equipment once the facility is complete.

It is hoped the new headquarters will improve sport in the central African nation in both a sporting and an administrative sense, coming 24 years after the National Olympic Committee for Burundi was formed in 1990.

Since then, Burundi has participated in six Summer Olympic Games, winning their only medal, a gold, on their debut at Atlanta 1996 when Vénuste Niyongabo triumphed in the 5,000 metres.

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