DRC President Félix Tshisekedi postpones the 4th edition of the Mining Conference scheduled for Kisangani
The Presidency of the Republic, in a press release read on Tuesday, December 8 on the RTNC by Mr Eboma, Principal Advisor at the College of Mines and Energy at the Office of the Head of State, has just postponed the 4th mining edition of the DRC, initially planned from December 14 to 16, 2020 in Kisangani, in the province of Tshopo, following the rise of the second wave of the covid-19 pandemic.
Signed by the chief of staff ai of the President of the Republic, Eberande Kolongele, this press release nevertheless underlines that the Head of State encourages the Monitoring Committee of this mining conference to stay the course.
It was in early October 2020 that the Presidency of the Republic announced the holding of this 4th edition of the mining conference in Kisangani, a choice of the Head of State himself, Félix Tshisekedi, said the press release.
This 4th edition should look at the major issues facing the artisanal mining sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The main theme chosen was “Responsible, ethical and sustainable artisanal mining in the DRC, in the light of the Mining Code and international standards: State of play, challenges and prospects”.
As a reminder, the first three mining conferences in the DRC were held respectively, in Lubumbashi, Goma and Kolwezi. The 4th edition should be the first since the alternation and the coming to power of Felix Tshisekedi.
It is since January 2013 that the former president, Joseph Kabila, had decided to set up a Forum called “Mining Conference of the Democratic Republic of Congo”. These meetings were established to bring together all the players in the field of natural resources, mining, public institutions, civil society, to assess the situation of the national mining sector.