Author: Congo Times

High-Level Dialogue Reinforces Investor Confidence When President Denis Sassou Nguesso met Wing Wah Group’s Chairman Xiao Lianping in Beijing, the conversation unfolded as a subtle yet potent advertisement for the Republic of Congo’s economic credentials. Speaking immediately after the audience, Xiao described the Congolese business environment as “welcoming and predictably regulated,” stressing consistent governmental backing and what he called “the warmth of a population that sees investors as partners” (Xinhua, 3 September 2023). The remark resonates with wider regional assessments by the African Development Bank, which has repeatedly credited Brazzaville for pragmatic reforms on taxation and foreign-exchange repatriation (AfDB 2022…

A strategic handshake between health and security Few capitals illustrate the contemporary fusion between public health and national security as vividly as Brazzaville. The courtesy call of Dr Vincent Sodjinou, freshly accredited World Health Organization Representative to the Republic of Congo, on Defence Minister Charles Richard Mondjo rapidly evolved into a strategic conversation about containing the current cholera episode. What began as a formal presentation of credentials became a working session on how military lift capacity, field hospitals and disciplined manpower can reinforce epidemiological surveillance and rapid response teams already deployed by the Ministry of Health. The swift pivot from…

Capacity-building underscores Brazzaville’s governance priorities On 3 September, within the marble halls of the Ministry in charge of State Reform, Minister Delegate Luc Joseph Okio placed freshly printed certificates into the hands of thirty civil servants who had completed a rigorous course in designing and implementing results-oriented monitoring and evaluation systems (Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 3 September 2023). The symbolic gesture crowns a blended training programme that unfolded between 12 and 16 May, coupling virtual modules with face-to-face workshops in Brazzaville. A results-based monitoring ethos takes root Addressing the recipients, the minister reminded the audience that modern public management is…

Dolisie’s Geographic Leverage in Congo’s Transport Grid Nested at the crossroads linking Pointe-Noire, Brazzaville and the northern forest corridor, Dolisie enjoys a positional advantage that long predates motorised travel. The current bus terminal capitalises on this legacy, funnelling passengers toward economic centres such as Loudima, Nkayi and Kibangou while offering a convenient pivot for trans-provincial trade. Ministry of Transport estimates suggest that more than ninety per cent of domestic passenger journeys still occur by road, underscoring the terminal’s strategic relevance (Congolese transport statistics, 2024). A Marketplace of Movement and Micro-Entrepreneurship From sunrise to dusk, the station becomes a living tableau…

Brazzaville Sets the Tone for Quality Governance A modest conference room at the ministerial complex in Brazzaville became, on 4 September, the focal point of Congo-Brazzaville’s latest administrative reform. Gilbert Mokoki, Minister of State Control, Public Service Quality and the Fight against Antivalues, inaugurated a high-level workshop dedicated to the challenges of ISO 9001:2015 certification. Far from being a purely technical exercise, the training—inscribed in the 2025 Budgeted Annual Work Plan—signals the government’s determination to embed international quality standards within the machinery of state. By convening cabinet members, directors, quality focal points and internal auditors, the ministry is betting on…

Media–Economy Synergy in Brazzaville When the Congolese Congress of Business Leaders closed ranks with La Nouvelle République on 27 August 2025, seasoned observers noted more than a ceremonial handshake. The pact, witnessed by Antoine Ethai Oviebo, chief of staff to the Minister of Communication and Government Spokesperson, signalled a calculated bid to weave economic dynamism and information flows into a single fabric (Government press release, 27 August 2025). In the carefully worded memorandum, both sides committed themselves to promoting innovation, transparency and enhanced corporate visibility across the Republic of the Congo. The ambition is explicit: craft a mutually reinforcing ecosystem…

A Strategic Classroom Turned Battlefield Simulation For ten dense days in late August the usually calm campus of the Marien-Ngouabi Military Academy in northern Brazzaville was transformed into a command post alive with encrypted radio traffic, digital situation maps and the clipped orders of junior officers eager to apply a year’s worth of theory. The sixth Manoeuvre École, code-named “Tambo”, borrowed its name from the Kituba word for lion and its spirit from a doctrinal scenario that placed a composite Congolese force in control of a volatile, transnational corridor plagued by armed smugglers. According to the official programme released by…

Strategic Setting: Youth Inclusion at the Heart of State Policy Few policy questions resonate more strongly across Central Africa than the quest for meaningful youth inclusion. In the Republic of Congo, where nearly two-thirds of the population is under thirty, the government has long recognised that sustainable stability hinges on the social and economic integration of its youngest citizens. Recent national development plans emphasise employability, civic education and conflict-prevention measures consonant with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 8 (AU Agenda 2063 Framework, 2022). It is within this strategic continuum that the National Agency…

Historic Signature in Brazzaville The signing ceremony held in Brazzaville in August gathered Congo’s Minister of Hydrocarbons Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua, Minister of State Jean-Jacques Bouya and Wing Wah Chairman Xiao Lianping in a carefully choreographed event that underscored the Republic of Congo’s intent to move decisively up the energy value chain. At stake is a portfolio of onshore permits—Banga Kayo, Holmoni and Cayo—whose integrated development is now backed by a financial envelope of US$23 billion. According to the joint communiqué issued after the ceremony, the pact aspires to elevate national crude output to 200 000 barrels per day by 2030,…

A measured farewell to a transnational voice The passing of Déo Namujimbo, announced by his family on the night of 31 August in Vigneux-sur-Seine, quietly ends the earthly journey of a writer whose pen bridged continents and sensitivities (family statement, 31 August). Born in South Kivu, he embraced French citizenship after his 2009 exile, yet he never relinquished the moral duty he felt toward the peoples of the Great Lakes. His wake in the Île-de-France suburbs draws diplomats, scholars and members of the Congolese diaspora who recognise that literature, far from being a mere cultural artefact, often functions as an…