Event recap

On October 25, 2024, the Africa Center, in partnership with Rawbank, hosted its first DRC Day event, which focused on the road to investment, peace, and security. The event brought together representatives from the private and public sectors, including high-level officials such as DRC Minister of Finance Doudou Fwamba Likunde, Minister of Hydraulic Resources & Electricity Teddy Lwamba Muba, and Minister of Budget Aimé Boji Sangara. The event, emceed by Africa Center Senior Fellow and Senior Advisor Aubrey Hruby, included a series of keynote remarks, fireside chats, and panel discussions.  

Video highlights

Panel discussions

Strengthening governance and the business environment

Africa Center Senior Fellow Jonathan Esole led a discussion highlighting the importance of strengthening the DRC’s governance and business environment featuring three speakers: 

• Aurélien Mali, Vice-President Senior Credit Officer, Sovereign Risk Group, Moody’s Ratings
• Dave Peterson, Senior Director, Africa Program, National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
• Peter Sullivan, Managing Director, Head of Public Sector Africa, Citi

On the topic of risk, Mali noted that Moody’s rates the DRC at B3, meaning that it has a “stable outlook.” He added that the international rankings for governance and institutional development oftentimes do not “reflect the efforts that governments are taking to strengthen their institutional frameworks.”  

Sullivan recognized that the DRC getting a B3 is “a prerequisite to accessing the market and accessing commercial funding.” However, he added that before the country moves towards more sophisticated financial tools, such as green bonds or infrastructure bonds, it should identify specific projects that will generate the “commercial returns to repay that debt.” 

According to Peterson, the DRC has made progress and there’s a lot of work to be done. He explained how NED has joined with civil society organizations to monitor the political situation throughout the country. “Elections were relatively peaceful,” he explained, adding that compared to its neighbors, the DRC has more “free, democratic space.”

Unlocking investments for critical minerals

After Jean Bele, Professor at MIT and Founder of Okapi, stressed the challenges to investment in the country (lack of support on the supply chain for technology development and value-added activities), International Advisor to Mining Indaba, Tony Carroll, expanded upon the ongoing mentions of critical minerals, bringing in leading voices to discuss investment opportunities and the pathway forward. The featured speakers included: 

• Calixte Ahokpossi, Mission Chief, Democratic Republic of the Congo, International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• Gracelin Baskaran, Director, Critical Minerals Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
• Fawzi Abi Saleh, Commercial Head South, Mining and Metals, Rawbank
• Mohan Vivekanandan, Group Executive, Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)  

Baskaran identified a lack in adequate infrastructure, mapping, and policy stability and transparency across the mining sector, explaining that such a lack poses challenges. She emphasized the need for a “stable tax framework” that can guarantee tax stability for investors over the next decade.  

Recognizing that cobalt and copper production has doubled over the past five years,  Ahokpossi said that the mining sector can be a “launching pad” for economic diversification and to achieving development goals in the DRC, though “its full potential has not yet been realized.”  

Fawzi pointed out the initiatives taken to protect Congolese businesses through regulations such as the Regulatory Authority for Subcontracting in the Private Sector Program, which ensures “knowledge transfer” and shared benefits.  

Vivekanandan shared that DBSA has worked with the Africa Finance Corporation and the US International Development Finance Corporation to approve $200 million in financing for the Lobito Corridor project and “unlock mineral exports and improve regional connectivity.” 

Carroll concluded the panel by highlighting the critical role US investors and companies can play in the DRC’s future, seeing as they bring a willingness to engage in technology transfer, human capacity development, and creative financing. 

Likunde concluded the event with remarks emphasizing the DRC’s readiness for investment and its aim to advance improvements in governance and economic development.  

Explore more of the Africa Center’s programming and analysis

Critical Minerals Task Force

The Africa Center’s Critical Minerals Task Force serves as a leading platform for research and discussion on the burgeoning critical mineral partnership between African countries and the United States.

Macire Aribot is a Program Assistant at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.

Event description

On the margins of the 2024 IMF-World Bank Meetings, the Africa Center, in partnership with Rawbank, is convening leading officials, finance and development ministers, business executives, and institutional investors to highlight opportunities for investment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and assess the way forward for strengthened governance and economic growth throughout the country.

Strategically located at the center of the African continent, the DRC is the second largest country in Africa with a population around 100 million and is set to increase at a staggering rate of 3.19 percent, making it one of the fastest growing populations in the world. As the DRC continues to grow as a major player, it will need support in ensuring democracy and human rights, combatting the ongoing climate crisis, securing supply chains of critical minerals necessary for the energy transition; and unlocking regional trade and investment as demonstrated through projects such as the Lobito Corridor. 

Join us as the Africa Center brings together leading voices on finance and governance to stress the DRC’s strategic importance to the continent, its improvements on macroeconomic indicators, and steps taken towards reforms. Join us in person or virtually on Friday, October 25, at 12:30 p.m. ET at the National Press Club (529 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20045).

This event is part of the Africa Center’s DRC country programming and the Atlantic Council’s IMF-World Bank Meetings event series that convenes finance ministers and central bank governors from around the world to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the global economy in 2024. Learn more about our programming during the week here.

Agenda

For online attendees, the event will start promptly at 12:30 pm ET. For in-person attendees, there will be a networking session at 12:00 pm.

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