Brazzaville, March 28, 2024 (CEA) - The Sub-Regional Office for Central Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in partnership with the UNDP Congo Country Office, has begun supporting the Republic of Congo in setting up its Master Plan for Industrialization and Economic Diversification (PDIDE).
The PDIDE being formulated should serve as the basis for transforming the Congolese production system towards a low-carbon, greener economy. This industrial strategy should be accompanied by a skills revolution and capacity development. This is why the PDIDE must be based on a sound understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the national economy, robust quantitative diagnostic and prospective analyses, and the involvement of all stakeholders.
The design launching workshop of the PDIDE Congo took place on March 28, 2024 in Brazzaville. It was jointly convened by the Ministry of Planning, Statistics and Regional Integration, the Ministry of Industrial Development, Promotion of the Private Sector and Special Economic Zones, and the Ministry of Economic Diversification. The meeting adopted the architecture of the PDIDE-Congo formulation and implementation process, which, in addition to periodic review and consultation missions, includes the setting up of structures such as Strategic Working Groups (SWGs), Multi-sector Technical Teams (MSTs) and inter-ministerial committees to draw up the document.
According to Adama Ekberg Coulibaly, Senior Economist at ECA Central Africa Office, "the PDIDE is a framework for joint commitment to ensure the collaboration and coordination of all stakeholders called upon to implement the common roadmap that will enable the Congolese economy to diversify its sources of growth".
The development and implementation of a Master Plan for Industrialization and Economic Diversification would not only increase the contribution of the Congolese industrial sector to GDP, but also make the most of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), for which Congo has adopted an implementation strategy.
The Congo’s PDIDE is in line with the Congolese government's ambition to restructure its economy by capitalizing on the opportunities offered by high-growth activities, in line with the 2022-2026 NDP. Jules Gérard Tchicaya Gondhet de Trébaud, representative of the Minister of Planning, Statistics and Regional Integration, put it in context: "the Congolese authorities' stated determination to make economic diversification and industrialization an important focus of their development strategy was in keeping with the spirit of the declaration issued by the African Union's Heads of State and Government at the end of the November 2022 Extraordinary Summit in Niamey, Niger". The continent's decision-makers called for "an acceleration of commodity-based industrialization as an engine of growth, productive job creation and economic diversification through regional value chains of the continent's natural resources", he added.
To facilitate the formulation of Congo's industrial strategy, 5 working groups have been created. They will issue strategic orientations on the different axes of the PDIDE Congo.
The representative of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in the Republic of Congo, Henry René Diouf, who is also Deputy Resident Representative of the UNDP, welcomed the formation of the working groups, which he described as "an ideal platform for a constructive, inclusive and participative conversation to move the Congo forward on the road to performance in terms of productivity, competitiveness and prosperity for all".
Issued by:
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Economic Commission for Africa
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