ECONOMIC NEWSLETTER

EMBASSY OF

THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

IN KINSHASA

ECONOMIC NEWSLETTER OF THE EMBASSY OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS IN KINSHASA & BRAZZAVILLE Design by MEDIALAB Connecting business to african market !

Nr 29 / Août-Sept 2015

MASOLOKingdom of the Netherlands

Nr 34 / January 2016

From the Netherlands

PAGE 4 • Congo and the DRC prepare a new trade agreement• Congo-Brazzaville is to revive its oil sector• Congo-Brazzaville will invest more in transport to boost business• Orion Oil Ltd raises $ 580 million in export credit for a consortium of African Banks• An American waste processing company settles in Congo

Headlines from Congo-Brazzaville

PAGE 2 • Dutch Embassy organises a workshop on access to finance in the DRC• Dutch EU-presidency focuses on sustainable development • The Netherlands emphasized link between human rights and trade during UN Forum• IFC’s CASA project discussed in Vienna • Export Award for SME’s: apply now!

PAGE 3 • Port of Antwerp joins a tender to reform the SCTP• DR Congo plans to issue a Eurobond of nearly one billion dollars in 2016• The World Bank takes note of the de-dollarization of the Congolese economy • The DRC has experienced a decrease of more than 17% of its exports in 2015• Results of COP21: DRC will benefit from CAFI funding • A consortium calls for the registration of land titles in the DRC• COMESA: workshop to create ISO National Mirror Committees held in Kinshasa

Headlines from the DRC

ECONOMIC NEWSLETTER OF THE EMBASSY OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS IN KINSHASA & BRAZZAVILLE Design by MEDIALAB CON-Connecting business to african market !

• In 2016, benefit from the means the Dutch Embassy offers the Congolese

private sector!

• Useful links

• Contact

PAGE 5

Kinshasa welcomes a conference on private investment in the Great Lakes Region On the 24th and 25th of February 2016, the first ever Private Sector Investment Conference for the African Great Lakes Region will take place in Kinshasa. The conference is an initiative of the leaders of the 12 countries in the African Great Lakes Region plus South Africa, who committed to the development of this troubled region in the 2006 Pact on Security, Stability and Development.

With a very young population, expanding economy, and tremendous amount of natural resources, the Great Lakes Region holds significant economic potential for the private sector. Through regional cooperation and responsible, sustainable investment, the conference aims to enhance shared prosperity: a means to eventually bring about peace and stability in a troubled region.

Post Scriptum

The Netherlands participated in a semi-annual meeting of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Vienna to discuss Conflict Affected States in Africa (CASA-II). Discus-sions were held on the progress of current country activi-ties, the implementation on the program’s gender lens and expanding the CASA footprint to other African fragile and conflict affected states.

The Netherlands, Ireland and Norway agreed to increase focus on supporting SME’s and investments in order to create more economic opportunities. Since 2014, CASA in DRC has concentrated, among others, on business de-velopment in Eastern DRC and the Great Lakes region, mostly in the sectors of agriculture, mining, manufacturing, infrastructure, and financing of SME’s. (Source: IFC.org)

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Are you a SME-entrepreneur with ambitions to export to Congo-Kinshasa or Congo-Brazzaville? Is it your first time doing business internationally, or do you wish you expand your business abroad? The Dutch SME Export Award might be of interest to you.

With an export cheque of € 15.000, free membership of MKB Nederland (SME the Netherlands), a business partner scan by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and a language course by Regina Coeli, you will be prepared to take on the foreign challenges that will come your way when doing business abroad.

You can apply for the award until the 17th of February via www.mkbexportaward.nl. (Source: RVO.nl)

On 16, 17 and 18 November 2015 the yearly UN forum on Business and Human Rights took place. This year’s theme was “Tracking and tracing progress and ensuring coherence”, and underlined that business and safeguarding human rights must go hand in hand. Part of the forum was the seminar “Sustainable Fashion: Empowering Women in Africa’s Fashion Industry”, where the Netherlands spoke about the link between human rights and trade.

The Netherlands also organised a side event on access to remedy, where the private sector and NGO’s were able to convene in a smaller group, which allowed for a fruitful discussion on increased access to mediation and non-judicial remedy to victims of human rights violations. (Source: OHCHR)

During its EU Presidency in the first half of 2016, The Netherlands will seek to enhance the coherence of EU trade and development policies and their contribution to sustainable development. Promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR) and private sector engagement are key aspects of this strategy.

The fact that the most serious environmental and human rights violations generally occur in producer countries make it a necessity to focus on the global value chain.

In order to do so, during its EU Presidency the Netherlands organises a conference ‘the EU and Global Value Chains’ (www.euandgvc.nl), promotes the new EU Responsible Business Conduct Action Plan in Trade and will continue set an agenda to strengthen EU trade and development policies to increase sustainability throughout the entire value chain. (Source: euandgvc.nl)

F r o m t h e N e t h e r l a n d s

On February 17, the Dutch embassy will host a workshop on increasing the access to medium and long term financial means in the DRC. Triodos Bank, Rabobank and the Dutch Development Bank FMO will attend and meet with Congo-lese financial institutions in order to discuss possibilities to cooperate and increase the access to finance, easing the way for entrepreneurs in the DRC.

The Dutch banks see economic potential in the DRC and are keen to find out more about the existing financial in-stitutions that are already operating in this challenging business climate. The aim of the workshop is therefore to familiarise the Dutch financial institutions with the Congo-lese private sector (and vice versa) and foster partnerships between them in order to contribute to the growth of the Congolese economy. (Source: Dutch Embassy)

Dutch EU-presidency focuses on sustainable development

IFC’s CASA project discussed in Vienna

Export Award for SME’s: apply now!

The Netherlands emphasizes link between human rights andtrade during UN Forum

Dutch Embassy organises workshop on access to finance in the DRC

The governor of the province of Kongo Central, Jacques Mbadu Nsitu, has met with the director of the seaport of Antwerp Luc Arnouts in Boma. They discussed the inclusion of the Port of Antwerp in the DRC’s tender to reform the Office National des Transports (SCTP).

Luc Arnouts was contacted by Oscar Masamba, the dep-uty-governor, who announced the pairing of the port of Antwerp with those of Matadi and Boma. The governor welcomed the implementation of the twinning of the ports and the ensuing modernization of port facilities and reas-sured of the province’s dedication to the materialisation of this project. (Source: PCA)

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DR Congo plans to issue a Eurobond of nearly one billion dollars in 2016

COMESA: workshop to create ISO National Mirror Committees in Kin-shasa

D R C H e a d l i n e s

A workshop for the National Mirror Committees (CMN) was held in Kinshasa. It was held in the context of the integration process of the DRC into the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Organized by the Congolese Control Office (OCC), the workshop was funded by the European Union within the framework to support regional integration (project PMIR/Comesa).

The workshop brought together various experts from the Congolese public administration, and the proceedings will lead to the creation of fifteen National Mirror Committees, in the sectors of petroleum and lubricant products; foodstuffs; plastics, financial services, packaging, quality of water, etc. As of now, the DRC has three Committees. (Source: Le Potentiel)

This is what followed from the 11th meeting of the mon-etary policy committee of the Central Bank, chaired by its governor Deogratias Mutombo. He acknowledged that the DRC is severely impacted by slowdown of the global economy and the drop in commodity prices in 2015. The drop in prices for products like copper, as well as low oil prices, which are both export-products for the DRC, darken the outlook for future economic growth.

He said the DRC recorded a growth rate of 7,5% in 2015, whilst she was counting on a double-digit growth number of 10,3%: a sharp decline compared to a year earlier, when the country recorded a growth rate of 9,5%. The gover-nor of the central bank promised an appropriate response to strengthen the Congolese economy for the year 2016. (Source: Radio Okapi)

The 195 representatives of the countries present at the Conference on Climate Change in Paris (COP21) have crafted a universal agreement adopted by consensus, aiming to keep temperature below 2°C and contin-ue efforts to limit temperature increase to 1,5°C. The Ministries of Finance and Environment have called the plan of investments REDD+.

The total sum is estimated at one billion US dollars, of which a quarter will be gathered from the Central Af-rican Forest Initiative (CAFI). The DRC has set several goals, such has creating a law for land-use; reinforce local governance to govern the use of land and natu-ral resources; examine the possibilities for large-scale agriculture and lastly clarify and secure the land rights of the population. (Source: La Prosperité)

The Democratic Republic of Congo foresees to issue a Eurobond of almost one billion dollars to invest in projects that stimulate economic growth, as reported by Bloomberg. “We are working with external advisors to identify the possibilities”, said Mr. Matata Ponyo. “This will allow us to mobilise funds to stimulate the economy through invest-ments in infrastructure”, he added. The transaction is expected to mark the first Eurobond emission of DR Congo: a Central African country, B-rated by Standard & Poor’s, six notches below investment grade. The Congolese government said it had lowered its economic growth forecast for 2015 to 7,7%. The authorities initially anticipated a growth of 10,3% and have already low-

The DRC experienced a decrease of more than 17% of exports in 2015

Results of COP21 : DRC will benefit from CAFI funding

The World Bank advocates the de-dollarization on the Congolese economy to increase the resilience of the coun-try, said a study of the same institution. According to the WB, this process would give the DRC more leeway to use monetary policy in macroeconomic management, thus al-lowing for its resilience. The study points out the effects of dollarization, such as loss of autonomy in terms of mone-tary policy and the reliance on foreign currency reserves to maintain stability in monetary and banking sectors.

The study also suggested that long term resilience re-quired a diversification of the economy to reduce the de-pendency on certain export products and partners, and also by promoting different stadia of production in mining. (Source: ACP)

The companies Téléconseil and Congo Check have presented the Minister of Land Affairs with a draft for a project to secure and digitally register land titles. The project, that will have Kinshasa as its pilot-city, will ensure the Ministry of Land Affairs to create a directory of developed and undeveloped properties.

For Jimmy Thabmwe Kilala Bin, director of Téléconseil DRC, the project’s goal is to put an end to the numerous land conflicts that plague the country’s courts. “This will be done by securing land and cadastral titles, as well as digitalizing the records of the Ministry of Land Affairs, giving them an effective database of all developed and undeveloped properties.” The project will develop drones to allow the state to have a clear idea about the number of properties on a given territory. (Source: Radio Okapi)

The port of Antwerp joins a tender to reform the SCTP

The World Bank takes note of the de-dollarization of the Congolese economy

A consortium calls for the registra-tion of land titles in the DRC

Orion Oil Ltd, a subsidiary of Orion Group Ltd., an in-ternational oil investment company led by Lucien Ebata, raised $ 580 million from several African Banks: United Capital, UBA Nigeria Plc., the African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim Bank) and BGFI Capital. This capital will ensure in particular the pre-finacing of export oil shipments.

At the end of 2013, the group has already carried out a smilar operation with an amount of $ 500 million, in coop-eration with the Ecobank Group. According to Lucian Eba-ta, the loan will be quickly reimbursed: “The total amount shall be repaid within three years”, he stated.

With more than 1,2 million tons of refined products every year and a turnover exceeding 1,5 billion in 2014, the Orion Group now covers the entire oil chain, from produc-tion to operating, marketing, warehousing and shipping. (Source: Agence Ecofin).

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The US Company Global Marketing Partners USA is to create a garbage collection and processing plant, where household waste is processed into agricultural fertilizer and electric power in Congo. The intention was signed on 23rd of November in Brazzaville between the minister of State, the Minister of Industrial Develop-ment and Private Sector Promotion, Isidore Mvouba, and the CEO of the company, Glenn Stamps.

Part of the public-private partnership, this project is one of the achievements of the Forum Invest in Congo-Braz-zaville. American investors have expressed their willingness to support Congo in itgs economic diversification policy: “This partnership integrates the concerns of our countries, as broken down in the Future Path, which was the subject of an operationalization of the National Development Plan 2012-2016, together with a strategic framework for the fight against poverty,” said Isidore Mvouba. (Source: Congo-Site)

The Minister at the Presidency in charge of Regional Planning and General Delegation for Major Works, Jean-Jacques Bouya, has assured investors that massive works are underway to improve their transport systems to en-sure an efficient and effective business environment in the country. According to him, his government was investing hugely in the improvement of transport systems, in order to make Congo Brazzaville the gateway to all Central Africa, since it serves as a transit country.

Mr. Bouya said this during a panel discussion with investors, public and private partners, and stakeholders to de-liberate on issues and ways to improve investment and diversification on the second day of the First International Investment Forum in Congo. He said the port sector, airport and land will have major investments to ensure that exports and imports would be done with free flow, which would subsequently attract more investors. (Source: The Chronicle)

Congo is preparing to launch tenders for five sea oil blocks. The first is ongoing since 2009, when the country also reformed its oil code: a crucial step for a country that intends to use the hydrocarbon sector to accelerate the diversification of its economy. The announcement comes at a time when a major reform of the oil code was initiated by the Congolese authorities.

The proposal currently awaits parliamentary approval. Specifically, it aims to make the SNPC, the National Oil Company of Congo, the backbone of the Congolese oil upstream. Foreign companies will have a status of partners through equity investments. The aim of the reform is, first, to modernize the framework for investment in this sector, and second, to give more leeway to Congo Brazzaville in strategic decision making. (Source: Afrique.com)

C o n g o - B r a z z a v i l l e H e a d l i n e s

Experts from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Congo met in Brazzaville to develop a draft trade agree-ment. The document will be presented to the ministers at the next joint special trade gathering between the two countries. Trade between Congo and the DRC is currently governed by an agreement dating from 1978.

The 11th session of the high joint commission for cooper-ation between the two countries, held in 2008, had rec-ommended updating this agreement. The proposals that have been made will establish a free trade area between the two countries.

This meeting also sets out to strengthen the cooperation between the two nations on quality control and conformity assessment of goods and services. In this way, the safety of consumers and the exports of both countries to other states will improve. (Source: CongoSite)

Congo Brazzaville is to revive its oil sector

Orion Oil Ltd raises $580 million in export credit for a consortium of Af-rican Banks

An American waste processing company settles in Congo

Congo-Brazzaville to invest more in transport to boost business

Congo and the DRC prepare a new trade agreement

POST SCRIPTUM

-------------------------------------Join our network at www.linkedin.comMr Gerard Michels (Ambassador)

Mrs Corina van der Laan (Deputy Head of mission)

Mr Francis Wilanga (Sr Economic policy officer)

Mr Christian Senga (Economic policy officer Est de la RDC)

Ms Sandy Makola (Assistant Economic policy officer)

Ms Jenny de Nobel (Intern)

ECONOMIC NEWSLETTER OF THE EMBASSY OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS IN KINSHASA & BRAZZAVILLE Design by MEDIALAB Connecting business to african market !

P R A C T I C A LI N F O R M A T I O N

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Embassy in Kinshasa Contact11, avenue NzongotoloImmeuble Residence 55, Kin-Gombe

Phone: +243 99 6050 600Emergencies: +243 99 818 62 24Fax: +243 99 6050 629E-mail: kss@minbuza.nl

Postal addressLokatie 309 / ZMA Kinshasa Postbus 12200 - 2500 DD Den Haag

Opening hoursMonday - Thursday 08:00 – 16:30 Friday 08:00 – 13:30

Opening hours consular department Monday & Wednesday 09:00 -12:00 Otherwise by appointment only

---------------------------------------------------------------

Consulate in BrazzavilleAddress30, Blvd Denis Sassou N’Guessou B.P 277 M’Pila - Brazzaville

Opening hoursMonday - Friday 09:00-16:00 (Consulate)Tuesday & Thursday 09:00-12:00 (Consular affairs)

Honorary Consul Ms. Hilly-Anne FumeyPhone: +242 06 924 14 07E-mail: hamvanbaggum@yahoo.fr

For comments, suggestions and remarks on this Newsletter, or any others business, please contact the Embassy’s economic policy officer:

Phone: +243 99 060 50 627E-mail: kss-hb@minbuza.nl-----------------------------------

DisclaimerYou have received this Newsletter because you have had previous contact with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kinshasa, DRC. Please send an email to kss-hb@minbuza.nl with “remove from mail list“ in the subject line if you no longer wish to receive this newsletter.

The content of this newsletter does not reflect the views of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Kinshasa. It is merely a resume of news articles, from both national and international newspapers and news agencies.Credit photos: internet

RVO is a government agency for enterprises based in the Netherlands, offering the pri-vate sector a sustainable business climate through various instruments. To illustrate: CBI – Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries – stimulates export from developing countries through import; PUM – Netherlands Senior Experts – helps small and medium enterprises with practical advice (with more than 4,000 volunteer experts); MMF – Matchmaking Facility – assists Congolese companies to find business partners; G2G / K2K – provides direct cooperation between Dutch and local governments (G2G) and institutions (K2K); NMTP – Netherlands Management Training Program – offers cus-tomized training for managers and entrepreneurs in order to strengthen relations between Dutch and Congolese companies. We also have TMT – Tailor Made Training – a training program open to employees of NGO’s, public institutions and SME’s. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us at KSS-HB@minbuza.nl.

USEFUL LINKS

Conference on Private Sector Development in the Great Lakes Area http://www.psicinvest.com

Dutch instruments offered to the Congolese private sector http://www.rvo.nl/subsidies-regelingen

Dutch EU presidency http://www.euandgvc.nl

RVO Export Award for SME’shttp://www.mbkexportaward.nl

In 2016, benefit from the means the Dutch embassy offers to the Congolese private sector!

The Masolo editorial team wishes you a happy 2016!