Author: Aime Kasongo

A national vision anchored in connectivity In Brazzaville, the celebration of the International Civil Aviation Day has evolved into far more than a ceremonial exercise. Taking the rostrum on the eve of the commemoration, the Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation and Merchant Marine, Ingrid Olga Ghislaine Ebouka-Babackas, set out a roadmap intended to lift the Republic of Congo’s air sector to the standards of the most competitive markets. Her pledge is unequivocal: to forge a modern, resilient and economically catalytic aviation industry that upholds the priorities articulated by President Denis Sassou Nguesso in the national development agenda. Civil aviation, she…

Strategic partnership nurtures rural entrepreneurship On the red lateritic roads that wind through Mindouli, the International Labour Organization, commonly still referred to by its French acronym BIT, has joined forces with the Integrated Agricultural Value Chain Development Project, Prodivac, to deliver an unprecedented capacity-building session for one hundred small-scale producers drawn from Kinkanda, Kingoyi and Mindouli. Financed by the African Development Bank, the programme ran from 27 November to 13 December and was carefully structured in cohorts of twenty, ensuring the intimate pedagogical environment that adult learning theories recommend. Twenty business counsellors, themselves previously certified in level I of the…

A decisive fiscal signal amid imported inflation The Congolese cabinet has opted for what Finance Minister Jean-Baptiste Ondaye terms “a shock-absorber of immediate effect”. In a circular disseminated on Sunday, Brazzaville ordered the suspension, for twelve months, of customs duty, IT levies and value-added tax on a basket of everyday foodstuffs and agriculture-related inputs. Wheat, refined vegetable oil, frozen meats, sea fish, rice, powdered milk, fertilisers, livestock feed and certified seeds now cross the national border duty-free. The customs director-general has been mandated to translate the ministerial instruction into operational procedures at ports and inland posts. Although modest in fiscal…

Strategic Signing in the Heart of Brazzaville In a ceremony held on 27 August inside the headquarters of La Nouvelle République, Paul Nestor Mouandzibi, president of the Congrès des chefs d’entreprise du Congo, and Anasth Wilfrid Mbossa, director-general of the national press group, affixed their signatures to what both men described as a “strategic accord” designed to enhance the visibility of private initiatives across the Republic of the Congo. The presence of Antoine Oviebo-Ethaï, director of cabinet to the Minister of Communication, lent governmental gravitas to the occasion and signalled official encouragement for stronger bridges between public information channels and…

A Quiet Revolution in Abuja Behind the ceremonial photographs taken on 25 June 2025 in Abuja, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) unveiled what its architects call the African Currency Marketplace, an electronic bazaar through which importers in Lagos may settle invoices in naira while exporters in Kigali receive Rwanda francs within seconds. Sponsored by Afreximbank, in concert with the African Union Commission and the AfCFTA Secretariat, the project seeks to erode the hegemony of third-party hard currencies in African trade. In the words of Afreximbank president Benedict Oramah, the Marketplace is designed to “make the Washington Consensus irrelevant…