Brazzaville, 10 Dec. 2016 (ECA) - The Sub-Regional Office for Central Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has convened mining development experts of the sub-region to an Ad Hoc meeting scheduled for 13 - 14 December 2016 in Brazzaville, the Capital of Congo.

The main objective of the meeting is to consider and enrich the report of the study on "the status and prospects of the implementation of the African mining vision in Central Africa" prepared by the ECA. Thanks to preliminary work by the ECA, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and their partners, the said Vision was adopted in February 2009 by African Union Heads of State and Government. It is predicated on the premise that foreign direct investments in the mining industry do not really benefit African countries and their citizenry.

What then is to be done to enable mineral resource exploitation foster broad-based development and structural transformation of Africa that benefits all and sundry?

Mining & Development in Central Africa - Much Still to Be Done

The changing dynamics of the extractive industries, namely falling commodity prices, is presurring Central African countries to seriously consider moving away from a situation where they are just "simple suppliers of crude coltan" to becoming "producers of coltan-based smartphone component parts." These changing dynamics offer a challenge and opportunity for the implementation of the African Mining Vision (AMV) in Central Africa, says Mr. Antonio Pedro, director of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)'s Sub-Regional Office for Central Africa. Read more. More about the ECA in this BRIEFING. 

These are the questions for which the African Mining Vision attempts to find answers. However, it was adopted during a period marked by high commodity prices on the international market, which, since then, have declined significantly with undeniable implications for implementation of recommended policies.

Against this new backdrop, the question of how to domesticate and advance the Vision in the Central African Sub-Region justifies the ECA study that shall be submitted for consideration to experts from Ministries in charge of mines, industry, the economy and planning of ECCAS Member States, as well as representatives of sub-regional institutions (ECCAS, CEMAC, BDEAC), the African Union, the UNDP, the AfDB, the World Bank, the IMF and Civil Society.

The contributions of the experts shall enrich the report and its recommendations on the ways and means of surmounting the obstacles to mainstreaming the objectives of the African Mining Vision into national policies and legislative frameworks.