Around forty major British companies, officials from His Majesty King Charles III's government, are participating in the trade and investment forum in Kinshasa.

According to the organizers, these include globally renowned British companies such as Rio Tinto, Vodafone, Global Gases, Arise, Investec, and Innovs.

During his speech, Professor Ndolamb Ngokwey, ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the United Kingdom, clarified: "There will mainly be bilateral discussions. Those interested in a given field will discuss with investors. It's no longer the time for making noise with our feet, it's the time to bring forward concrete and bankable projects that need investment."

Furthermore, he indicated that it is planned to "explore with the Congolese authorities and business circles investment opportunities and business in the priority sectors of the DRC, notably agriculture, infrastructure, mining, new information and communication technologies, health, and education."

For Professor Ndolamb, the effective participation of UK Finance Export, the financial branch of the British government, is also promising. There will not just be investment promises. There will be commitments to invest.

This forum, he pointed out, is organized with the aim of strengthening the cooperation relations between the two countries and to respond to the vision of President Félix Tshisekedi particularly in its aspects of job creation, improving the purchasing power of the population, social well-being, and the industrialization of the DRC.

Concrete and bankable projects are expected at the trade and investment forum, which opened on Wednesday in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), at the initiative of the Congolese and British governments, an official source stated.

Boni Tsala