Christophe Lutundula: DRC President’s Visit to China Focuses on Mining Contracts and Trade Deals

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, Christophe Lutundula, provided an update regarding the State visit of President Félix Tshisekedi to the People’s Republic of China.

This update was presented during a briefing held on Monday, June 5, 2023, and organized by Patrick Muyaya, the Minister of Communication and Media.

Christophe Lutundula said that this visit was an opportunity for the Democratic Republic of Congo and China to strengthen their decades-old diplomatic relations.

According to him, China has always been at the side of the DRC, particularly against Rwandan aggression in the east of the country.

“It must be recognized that China has always supported us against the aggression imposed on us by Rwanda with its M23 puppets. At the United Nations, China has always supported the cause of the Democratic Republic of Congo. “, he said.

With its natural resources, the Democratic Republic of Congo wants to position itself as a solution country in the fight against climate change.

To this end, China plans to cooperate with the DRC in the implementation of effective strategies to achieve, in particular, the manufacture of electric batteries.

“We are in a period of energy transition. Here too there is great interest shown by our Chinese partner in relation to initiatives concerning the production of electric batteries. 

There is a space of intersection, junction and a partnership that must be consolidated. “, he said.

For Christophe Lutundula, the war raging in the eastern part of the country must be an element of strengthening the economic pillars,

“We must strengthen the pillars of the development of our natural resources so that they become elements of construction of the future of our country but also to promote the improvement of the living conditions of the population. Although we are at war, we must think about the economic development of our country. “, he added.

For his part, Nicolas Kazadi, Minister of Finance, who also took part in this accountability exercise, indicated that the objective of the mission to China was not to sign contracts but to relaunch bilateral cooperation between Kinshasa and Beijing.

“We had to breathe new life into this cooperation, which is extremely important. China today is one of the main economic players on a global scale and the leading investor in the DRC. 

So we have a major partner. In the background of this visit, there were some disputes related to some investments but these disputes were not the subject of the discussions. 

These disputes were dealt with before going to China. The problem with TFM had already been solved. He remains the one with Sicomines. It was important to set the framework in this spirit of renewal in the relationship. “, he argued.