Republic of Congo: What are the country's energy priorities for the next few years?

The government's priority for the next five years is to increase and promote affordable, reliable and modern access to energy for all, and to diversify the country's economy towards non-oil sectors by exploiting the very great wealth in natural resources, an opportunity for Anatole Collinet Madosso, Prime Minister, to present the economic opportunities of the Republic of Congo in various sectors of activity with high growth potential, in order to arouse the interest of potential investors in major sectors.

In terms of developing renewable energies, the Republic of Congo is mainly served by hydroelectric dams and gas-fired power plants. Added to this is the installation of photovoltaic solar parks in urban and rural areas to provide electricity to low-income households.

Develop the mining sector and build a lucrative mining industry, in order to exploit the benefits for the economy, thanks to a plethora of non-oil natural resources (iron ores, magnesium, diamond, potash, phosphate, zinc, gold …) and create many jobs (18,000 during the construction phase and 9,000 during operation), which would make the mining sector the first sector to generate formal jobs in the Congo.

In the agricultural field, the potential of the country with 10 million hectares of arable land and abundant rains is very important.

One of the priorities of the country, of the government, is to intensify the pace of investment in agriculture, in order to promote in particular the mechanization and automation of the sector.

This agricultural strategy is based on several pillars: the development of agriculture, the strengthening of agricultural research and the dissemination of information on agricultural research.

With regard to infrastructure, the Republic of Congo is actively seeking foreign investment and public-private partners to maintain, restore and improve it, particularly in ports, the tourism industry, as well as manufacturing and construction of processing plants.

Actions also exist in the tourism sector with the aim of increasing land, sea and air traffic. The Congo can also boast of having some of the last truly virgin areas on the planet, the lush Congo Basin forest and home to unique wildlife (elephants, gorillas, etc.)

On the strength of these numerous opportunities, the Government is emphasizing the need to make the Republic of Congo an “ecotourism” destination:

Thus a strategic plan was established in 2017 and 35 million dollars were allocated to overhaul the tourism sector.

The Prime Minister recalled the many assets that offer facilities to investors: the peace and stability of the country, the youth of an abundant and dynamic workforce as well as a multitude of potential investment areas.