The Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene of South Africa, applauded the industrialisation master plan for the Democratic Republic of Congo, recently validated by experts. It was during an exchange with the Minister of Industry, Julien Paluku Kahongya that he said: “1.5 billion US dollars have just been mobilized to promote trade by women in countries that have already ratified the AfCFTA agreement”.
“I would like to start by congratulating the Minister for the industrialisation plan. Because it's worth mentioning that, to begin with, there must be an internal industrialisation plan, which makes it possible to produce goods that are going to be marketed”, said the AfCFTA Secretary General, who continued: “For countries that have already ratified the agreement, there will be a distribution quota. You'll have to be qualified to receive this fund, to have a business plan that meets the eligibility criteria.”
For his part, Julien Paluku Kahongya, Minister of Industry, took the opportunity to outline the advantages of this master plan for the industrialisation of the DRC. “Through this plan that we are going to present to investors, they will each be able to choose which sector to invest in, where and how. I'm delighted that we're going to join the AfCFTA. We also need to change the way we see communication, so that people don't think of the DRC as a country where investors can't come and win as they can elsewhere. On our own, we can establish a consumer market”, he underlined.
The lead person of the AfCFTA was accompanied by Patient Sayiba, Director General of the Office Multimodal Cargo Management (OGEFREM), which is organising the 12th General Assembly of African Shippers in Kinshasa.
Merveilles Kiro (@kiro_merveilles)
Political Editorial Office