DRC: Sama Lukonde and UNIDO Director discuss possibilities of creating industries for local processing of natural resources
The Regional Director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Central and West Africa, Jean Bakole was received Thursday April 01, 2021 by Prime Minister Sama Lukonde Kyenge.
At the end of the hearing, Jean Bakole said that this meeting with the Prime Minister made it possible to analyze the possibilities of creating industries for the local transformation of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“We discussed the appropriate strategies to engage the country in the local transformation of natural resources and the diversification of its economy. Question of taking advantage of these national resources in order to create wealth that can generate jobs. The Prime Minister insisted on the vision given by the Head of State, that of committing the products of Congolese soil to local processing to meet local needs and exports abroad, especially in the context of the free zone exchange at the African level, “he told the press.
The UNIDO Regional Director remains confident about the paradigm shift on the economic level in the DRC.
“The DRC will no longer be a country that waits to consume foreign products. But it will begin to produce, process local products and bring them to an optimal level of quality so that they are competitive on the local and international market” , he added.
He reassured that his organization is ready to support the country in order to find industrial strategies for local transformation.
“UNIDO is ready to put its experience at the international level to the benefit of the DRC, to support it and to help it establish industrial strategies that can boost a diversified economy based on local transformation likely to create many jobs. . In collaboration with the government which is being put in place, UNIDO will develop a program of accelerated industrialization of the Congo “.
The Regional Director noted the Prime Minister’s commitment to lead the country with a new economic strategy that will not only be based on minerals but also on agribusiness to increase the country’s capacities in wealth and jobs for the benefit of Population.
