It's pretty clear Americans couldn't give a fuck about Manono
*Maybe, Maybe Not, Time will tell, but for now the EU might
*To remind,
DRC-EU, value chain of strategic minerals: a memorandum of understanding will be signed before September
Before September 2023, a memorandum of understanding on the value chain of strategic minerals will be signed between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the European Union (EU), announced the spokesman of the government, Patrick Muyaya, at the end of the Council of Ministers led on Friday by the President of the Republic, Félix Tshisekedi.
The Head of State instructed the Prime Minister, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, to set up a multisectoral and inclusive Congolese team which will make up the negotiating committee empowered to discuss with European Union officials to lead to the signing of this protocol of agreement.
According to the government spokesman, President Félix Tshisekedi insisted that the two parties (DRC-EU) agree "on a roadmap around industrial projects for the transformation and valorization of critical minerals which will make it possible to accelerate the ecological transition in the DRC and in the European Union”.
“The Prime Minister has therefore been instructed to set up a multi-sector and inclusive Congolese team which will make up the negotiating committee empowered to discuss with European Union officials to lead to the signing, before September 2023, of a protocol agreement between the DRC and the European Commission through its delegation in our country.
The September deadline being that of the holding in Kinshasa of the DRC-Africa Forum devoted to battery metals, an opportunity for our country to highlight such an agreement,” said Patrick Muyaya.
Following the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron from March 3 to 5 in Kinshasa, the Minister of Mines of the DRC, the European Commissioner in charge of the internal market had started discussions for the conclusion of a partnership on the responsible value chain for strategic minerals, he recalled.
This meeting was sanctioned, specifies Muyaya, by a joint press release which emphasized the commitment of the two parties to launch negotiations and to set up a working group in order to continue the said discussions with the objective of concluding the strategic partnership between the European Union on the value chain of strategic minerals.
“However, at the end of the first round of discussions, it turned out that the scope of the partnership sought required a transversal approach requiring the involvement of all the sectoral ministries concerned, including the governance unit which is housed in the Presidential Council of strategic intelligence,” he said.
The DRC is one of the world's leading producers of cobalt and copper and the EU, which is among the main consumers, is convinced that this partnership will create jobs and growth for Congolese citizens and support Europe's ecological transition.
This partnership is part of the new EU strategy for the Great Lakes and the Global Gateway.
It will be based on four pillars, namely: the value chain of critical minerals, cooperation in research and innovation, alignment with environmental, social and governance criteria as well as capacity building.
mediacongo
Food for thought
Frank