The Brazzaville Chamber of Commerce and the Belgian Embassy are busy preparing for the arrival of Belgian businessmen, one year after their first economic mission in October 2019 to Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville.

The installation of Belgian companies in Congo was the heart of a meeting, on October 19, between the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Trades of Brazzaville, Paul Obambi, and the person in charge of Business in full force, Jean-Paul Charlier. The two men agreed to establish a timetable to ensure the concrete follow-up of the economic mission of these businessmen and to facilitate their installation.

Indeed, during their stay in the country, Belgian businessmen and their Congolese counterparts had expressed their intention to invest in sectors with a strong socio-economic impact. They mainly targeted agriculture and agricultural planning; animal husbandry through meat processing; wood ; energy; digital ; logistic ; tourism ; transport including the Pointe-Noire-Bangui waterway, waste treatment; training and health.

The Belgian Embassy then undertook to play the role of facilitator. “I came to talk about the follow-up to this economic mission, in other words, to see how to envision a return mission through an assessment and outlook meeting. Our contribution is to recontact and bring together the businessmen who had come. We will call them back to take stock of their needs and relaunch everything that had been done on the occasion of this mission, “assured the full-time account manager, Jean-Paul Charlier.

One of the crucial points raised during the October 2019 blitz is about improving the business climate. The president of the Chamber of Commerce of Brazzaville, Paul Obambi, affirms that efforts in this direction have been made. “We had prepared together a major mission for Belgian companies in Congo Brazzaville which was a great success in terms of organization and objective for each of the business leaders. Some of them had even remained in Brazzaville beyond their stays, which reflects the appetite of Belgian companies for the Congo, “he said.

It should be noted that economic and commercial relations between Belgium and the Congo weigh barely two hundred million euros per year: that is to say one hundred and fifty million for the export of goods from Belgium to the Congo and fifty million for the export of goods. goods from Congo to Belgium. Currently, the stock of Belgian exports is made up of transport equipment, mechanical devices, chemicals, while the Congo exports mainly hydrocarbons and wood to Belgium.