Gunnar,
I can't say much about the current "impasse" between the World Bank (and the int'l financial community, for this matter) and the RDC government. However, I would like to say that I take the side of the gov't on a very important issue: why should we pay for payouts (disguised as "aid") that the IMF gave to the Mobutu regime?? They knew the money was being embezzled, and not used for the stated purposes.
Anyways, it seems that foreign companies are willing to invest in Congo-Kin. Aside from Barrick, Starpoint, and the other mining companies (including Tenke), there are several telecommunications companies willing to invest in the country also. Namely, Afritel (with Qualcomm) and African Wireless (with Northern Telecom).
Check out these links for the news stories:
biz.yahoo.com
qualcomm.com
We don't know exactly when and if these companies will eventually follow through on their plans, but this is a clear indication of willingness to invest in the country. Stability is key to the formula.
If there is no interest from the "states" of the West to invest, there will be interest from the corporations of those states. There is no embargo on investment in the country, and I doubt there will. I think that the "states" are not investing due to political reasons. But this does not stop individual corporations- they are responsible to shareholders only.
There has been some interest from the Canadian gov't to work with the RDC gov't. A delegation will be sent from Ottawa to advise the Kinshasa gov't on "good governance".
That's all I can say now, but feel free to ask more questions. By the way, are we the only two left on the thread??
Imran
Ps: NCN is good source for facts. But I am very cautious with their analysis. |
