“The country expects to convert its economic system, starting...

“The country expects to convert its economic system, starting from a rentier economy to an economy of local transformation of its natural resources. It also intends to capture a significant share of the world market for electric cars, valued at more than 8 trillion US dollars, but also and above all to become the leading producer of electric batteries by 2030-2040,” he explained. .

He added that the urgent and immediate creation of the African Center of Excellence for Batteries makes it possible to complete the skills already available and to identify by 2030, the complete process ranging from the extraction of raw materials to the manufacture of electric vehicles. and other derived devices.

According to him, the choice of the city of Lubumbashi to house this technology is justified by two factors. He spoke of the upcoming creation of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Manono around lithium, a Special Economic Zone around cobalt in the Province of Lualaba and a Special Economic Zone in upper Katanga around production of electric cars. Added to this is the existence at the University of Lubumbashi of a Polytechnic faculty which has the necessary skills in terms of nature and quality of services both in terms of laboratories and teaching staff.

Julien Paluku finally called on his fellow Ministers to take ownership of these initiatives and to unite efforts around the Head of State's ambition to make the DRC the world's leading producer of Cobalt, electric batteries and energy. specific to the 2030-2040 horizon.