(Reuters) – The US is open to exploring crucial minerals partnerships with Congo, the State Division stated in a press release to Reuters on Sunday, after a Congolese senator contacted U.S. officers to pitch a minerals-for-security deal.
Democratic Republic of Congo, which is wealthy in cobalt, lithium and uranium amongst different minerals, has been combating Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who’ve seized swathes of its territory this yr.
Discuss of a cope with the U.S. – which can be in discussions with Ukraine over a minerals pact – has circulated in Kinshasa for weeks.
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“The US is open to discussing partnerships on this sector which are aligned with the Trump Administration’s America First Agenda,” a State Division spokesperson stated, noting that Congo held “a major share of the world’s crucial minerals required for superior applied sciences.”
The U.S. has labored “to spice up U.S. non-public sector funding within the DRC to develop mining sources in a accountable and clear method,” the spokesperson stated.
Kinshasa has not publicly detailed a proposal, as a substitute saying it’s looking for diversified partnerships.
“There’s a want for us to diversify our companions,” Congolese authorities spokesman Patrick Muyaya stated final week, including there have been “day by day exchanges” between Congo and the U.S.
“If right this moment American buyers are fascinated about coming to the DRC, clearly they are going to discover house … DRC has reserves which are obtainable and it will even be good if American capital may make investments right here,” he stated.
Andre Wameso, deputy chief of workers to Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, travelled to Washington earlier this month for talks on a partnership, two sources informed Reuters.
On February 21, a lobbyist representing the Congolese Senator Pierre Kanda Kalambayi despatched letters to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and different American officers inviting U.S. funding in Congo’s huge mineral sources in change for serving to to bolster “regional stability”.
That initiative was not sanctioned by the broader Congolese authorities or presidency, based on two Congolese officers. There are, nevertheless, a number of initiatives underway, albeit in nascent phases, sources from Congo’s presidency, its ministry of mines, and from Washington informed Reuters.
A Congolese delegation had been scheduled to fulfill with the Home Overseas Affairs Committee on March 6, however cancelled the assembly at brief discover, based on two sources.
(Reporting by Congo newsroom, Sonia Rolley and Portia Crowe; Modifying by David Holmes)
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