Kinshasa, November 4th, 2021 (CPA) – The Presidency of the Republic, through the Ministry in charge of Industry and in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), is organizing from November 24th to 25th in Kinshasa, a meeting called “DRC Africa Business Forum 2021”, under the theme “Developing a regional value chain around the electric battery industry, the electric vehicle market and clean energy”.
The Minister in charge of Industry, Julien Paluku Kahongya, announced it on Wednesday in Kinshasa, during a press conference.
He indicated that this Business Forum, which will see the participation of different actors, will have the merit of stimulating the development of a value chain and a dynamic market for batteries, electric vehicles and renewable energies in Africa.
For Julien Paluku, the development of this value chain will allow Africa to compete to win, once again, a large share of the rapidly expanding electric vehicle battery market, the value of which is estimated at 8.8 thousand billion US dollars by 2025, before confirming that “DRC-AFRICA Business Forum 2021” will be held in hybrid format in Kinshasa and online.
This Pan-African event, he continued, is the result of a questioning of African authorities in general, and Congolese in particular, on the transformation of African natural resources into economic value.
One of the main objectives of the event is to improve the participation of African countries in the value chain of batteries, electric cars and clean energies, in order to significantly impact the lifestyle of Congolese and nationals of other African countries by creating decent and stable jobs.
The specifics of the event
Responding to a question, the Minister in charge of Industry said that this event has a double feature, namely to carry out a study conducted by the firm Bloomberg Nef on the initiative of technical partners who have highlighted the potential of DRC and African countries in battery minerals, which can promote natural resource-based industrialization, including the production of battery precursors, cell assembly and electric vehicles.
The other particularity, he continued, is that of directly offering the possibility of mobilizing 2.1 billion US dollars, including 1.1 billion US dollars by Avz international, a company that will exploit Manono’s lithium ( in Tanganyika, as part of a collaboration agreement with DRC and USD 1 billion by financial institutions.
As a reminder, this event is intended to be a practical meeting rich in content, including plenary sessions, inter-company round tables, presentations by the main African companies and investors as well as networking sessions, with a view to defining a roadmap clear for Africa’s leap in the global value chain of batteries and electric vehicles. ACP /
