The National Investment Commission (CNI) held its first annual ordinary session on July 10 in Brazzaville, under the direction of its president, Athanase Ngassaki. Of the twenty-two files examined, approval titles were granted to twenty companies, representing a total investment potential of more than 255 billion FCFA.
For its first session in 2024, the CNI ruled on twenty-two approval files requested by investors. Of these, twenty-one were new and only one was under review. At the end of the work, the CNI awarded final approvals to eleven companies that had met all the conditions and provisional approvals to nine others. Only one application was adjourned for not having met the eligibility criteria.
The accredited companies intend to invest in various sectors of activity, with a view to boosting the national economic dynamic and contributing to its diversification. The awarding companies plan to invest in the sectors of livestock, construction and public works, transport, services, telecommunications, industry, the food industry and the metallurgical industry.
If all these projects are realized, they will represent a total investment of more than 255 billion FCFA for 4,123 direct jobs to be created.
Having obtained their investment approvals, these companies will now benefit from special concessions and advantages from the government, as provided for in the investment charter. The privileges resulting from these facilities include, among others, the reduction of customs duties, profit tax and many other special tax favors.
In accordance with the same investment charter, accredited companies are required to recruit Congolese personnel as a priority and must register them with social security. The same text obliges these companies to process raw materials on Congolese soil in order to support economic diversification.
Opening the proceedings, the chief of staff of the Minister of Economy and Finance, Athanase Ngassaki, president of the CNI, considered that this meeting was ” a decisive moment for which the State is committed to creating essential conditions for the development of the company “. To this end, he invited the participants to work with determination and responsibility.
It should be noted that the CNI is an executive body for the government’s policy on investment promotion. It has around twenty permanent members, from various public and private administrations, as well as from a few institutions. Its fundamental mission is to examine applications for approvals requested by companies.
