‘It is time for the country to readjust its contracts with miners to seal win-win partnerships,’ President Felix Tshisekedi tells Congolese people
The leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) says he wants to review a number of deals struck with foreign mining companies in a move that could have an impact on China’s ambitions to become the world’s leading manufacturer of electric cars.The Central African nation is the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, which is an essential component in the batteries used to power electric vehicles and appliances like smartphones, tablets and laptops. However, President Felix Tshisekedi believes his predecessors in Kinshasa signed lopsided contracts with mining companies that denied the Congolese people – many of whom live in poverty – their fair share of benefits from the sale of their nation’s minerals, and he wants to renegotiate them.
“I have really had enough. I am very severe with these investors who come to enrich themselves. They come with empty pockets and leave billionaires,” he said.“ It is time for the country to readjust its contracts with miners to seal win-win partnerships.”
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3134430/chinas-cobalt-mines-spotlight-drc-seeks-renegotiate-deals
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