Speaking at a development conference here for his tiny central African country, Ndayizeye also said he was "hopeful" that the last active rebel movement in the tiny central African country would soon begin peace talks with the government.
"The ingredients are in place for the establishment of a just and lasting peace," he told the conference, co-organised by the Belgian government and the United Nations Development Programme.
But Ndayizeye warned delegates that "the socio-economic situation is getting worse and worse" in Burundi, and called for some of the country's foreign debt to be cancelled.
In the Burundian capital Bujumbura, Ndayizeye's office said he would ask donors for $1,7-billion dollars in aid for a three-year period.
"Burundi is asking for $1 696 154 600 to finance the relaunch of the socio-economic sector and security and defence reform," Germain Nkeshimana, Ndayizeye's top diplomat advisor, said.
"To succeed in restarting the economy of this country, this programme must be planned to cover, at most, a three-year period," he said.
Belgium, Burundi's former colonial ruler, said at the conference it would extend €35-million in aid to the country over 2004-2005.
Ireland, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency, promised three million euros.
France said it would release €20-million in aid over three years and cancel another €20-million in debt owed by Burundi.
Since the outset of the civil war in 1993, Burundi's gross domestic product has been halved, from $1,2-billion in 1991 to 620-million in 2002, according to UN figures. The World Bank ranks it as the third-poorest country.
Hopes were raised last week, however, for a definitive end to the civil war, when the rebel National Liberation Forces (FNL) said it would meet Ndayizeye in the days ahead.
The FNL is the last rebel group still active in Burundi, other rival groups having made peace with the government and even joined its ranks.
Before leaving for Europe, Ndayizeye had said he might meet FNL representatives while in Belgium or France, where he is due to head next.
But the president said on the margins of the development conference that no date or venue for any such talks had yet been fixed.
Like the other rebel groups in Burundi, the FNL is made up mainly of members of the majority Hutu ethnic group.
Ndayizeye is himself a Hutu, but the FNL had said it would only negotiate a ceasefire with the army, which it accuses of being still dominated by the minority Tutsi group.
The president is also due to visit the Netherlands before returning home. – Sapa-AFP.
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