Minerals against infrastructure with China, Tshisekedi accuses the Chinese of having made a lot of profits and demands the reassessment of the "century contract"
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has slammed a $6.2 billion minerals-for-infrastructure deal with China, saying the world's biggest producer of a key metal for batteries has failed benefited from the agreement.
Congo, Africa's second largest country by landmass, is rich in natural resources - including copper and cobalt which are major components of electric vehicles - but remains one of the world's least developed countries.
Most of its minerals end up in China, which signed a landmark deal with Tshisekedi's predecessor in 2008 to swap roads and buildings for the two metals.
“The Chinese, they made a lot of money and made a lot of profit from this contract,” Tshisekedi said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Now our need is just to rebalance things so that it becomes a win-win.
The renegotiation of the contract is part of a campaign by the president to ensure that the country is paid for the full value of its resources, which are increasingly in demand.
The deal with China was signed at a time when Congo was emerging from decades of dictatorship and war and newly elected President Joseph Kabila was in desperate need of funding.
He demanded that Chinese companies invest $3.2 billion in a copper-cobalt mine and another $3 billion in infrastructure funded by the mine's revenues.
" Nothing concrete "
The Congolese government says China has released less than a third of infrastructure funds.
“We are happy to be friends with the Chinese, but the contract was badly drafted, very badly,” Tshisekedi said.
“Today, the Democratic Republic of Congo has not benefited from it.
There is nothing tangible, no positive impact, I would say, for our population.
The Chinese embassy in Congo and the Chinese ambassador did not immediately respond to an email and text message seeking comment on the negotiations, which have been going on for more than a year.
"You know, the Chinese are the champions of marathon talks," Tshisekedi said.
“They are known around the world for this. We are living this experience now and so, we will see, but we remain optimistic.
Negotiations are also dragging on at the Grand Inga site with Australia's Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., which has a memorandum of understanding with Congo to develop what could be the world's biggest hydropower project, Tshisekedi said.
African investors
The president wants Fortescue to allow other investors to participate in the deal, particularly from Africa, and possibly scale back its ambitions to accelerate development, he said.
“We are not on the same wavelength,” he said, adding that he had met Andrew Forrest in Davos, the chairman of Fortescue.
“We want to make this a kind of opportunity to also unite other interests, especially African interests,” Tshisekedi said.
“We are open to everything, to all discussions, to all meetings.
Discussions with Fortescue are continuing, Tshisekedi's director of communications later confirmed.
Fortescue Future Industries Ltd. plans to use Inga's energy, which could potentially be twice as powerful as China's Three Gorges project, to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia.
The company is in "active discussions" about the project, FFI chief executive Mark Hutchinson said in an email response to a request for comment.
Tshisekedi plans to travel to Australia to continue those talks, he said.
“Fortescue has a team in the DRC and continues to work closely with the government to get things done,” Hutchinson said.
“Fortescue welcomes other partners in this important project.
There is no timetable for the next phase of Inga, the 10 gigawatt project known as Inga 3, Tshisekedi said.
mediacongo
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*Funny how when your name is Forest you easily get the Presidents ( Felix ) attention
But when your name is Nigel he ignores you and your massive Hard Rock deposit
WTF Fatshi
Frank
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