From our Special Envoy to Kintélé, Dominique Mabika
As part of the first edition of the Forum conference on public-private partnership, which is being held from May 30 to 31, 2022 at the Kintélé Conference Center (Congo), several panels followed one another around the six priority areas of the National Development Plan (2022-2026) drawn up by Brazzaville. These exchanges have enriched the reflection on public-private partnerships, also to highlight the country’s assets in front of hundreds of national and foreign economic operators.
Located in the heart of Central Africa, Congo is a member country of the Economic Community of Central African States (CEMAC), a common market of nearly 60 million potential consumers. “A strategic position in terms of outlets” which constitutes one of the assets on which the country relies to reassure investors in order to “make public-private partnership a method of financing projects to diversify its economy”, indicate the authorities.
Besides the geographical aspect, “the Congo offers countless investment opportunities. Among other things, the deep-water Port of Pointe Noire, one of the largest on the continent, the 170 kilometers of coastline, constituting a real investment niche in the tourist sector”, argued Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, Minister of International Cooperation and Promotion of Public-Private Partnership, at the opening of the meeting.
But also “10 million of arable land, of which only 4% is exploited, or even the forest potential, the Congo Basin which contains several species of wood sought following around the world”, he added.
The Congolese authorities have also reassured on the legal aspects. “To further secure investments, the government will examine in a few days a bill to be submitted to parliament to regulate public-private partnership and contribute to improving the business climate”, said Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso.
This bill will flesh out the measures that already exist, in particular the law creating the High Authority for the Fight once morest Corruption, the law creating the Congolese agency for the creation of businesses, the Public-Private Dialogue Committee and the Single window for cross-border operations (GUOT). According to the Congolese authorities.
