Trade deal signing expected as DRC leader visits China this week
The meeting could pave the way for the two countries to strike a $6 billion infrastructure-for-minerals deal with Chinese investors.
The president of the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, will visit China from May 24 to 29, where he is expected to meet with President Xi Jinping to review and sign several key trade deals.
The visit was announced Monday by China’s Foreign Ministry. A meeting could pave the way for the two countries to formally overhaul and close a $6 billion infrastructure-for-minerals deal with Chinese investors.
The DRC is the world’s largest producer of cobalt battery material. It also has significant deposits of diamonds, gold, lithium and tantalum.
Tshisekedi, at a cabinet meeting on May 19, instructed his government to continue talks on the deal with Chinese counterparts after the DRC government and other stakeholders “consolidated their position,” according to a DRC government statement.
He informed cabinet members that a task force looking at the deal has submitted its conclusions, allowing talks with Chinese partners to begin in the coming days.
During the visit to China, the two heads of state will hold talks and attend the signing ceremony of cooperation documents, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
“The Democratic Republic of the Congo is an important country in Africa and the friendship between China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a long history,” Mao Ning, spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said at a regular news conference.
“Both sides have always supported each other on issues related to each other’s core interests and major concerns. In recent years, political mutual trust between China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been constantly deepened, and practical cooperation has brought fruitful results,” Mao added.
Tshisekedi will also meet Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China.