Author: Congo Times

A strategic ribbon-cutting in Nkayi The intense June heat did not discourage dignitaries, diplomats and local farmers from converging on Nkayi, some 350 kilometres south of Brazzaville, for a ceremony whose symbolism went beyond its provincial setting. When President Denis Sassou Nguesso cut the scarlet ribbon on 27 June 2025 he did more than open a factory; he offered a public illustration of his administration’s determination to re-industrialise the Bouenza corridor and signal macroeconomic resilience after the twin shocks of the pandemic and fluctuating oil revenues. Government communiqués stressed the head of state’s personal interest in translating policy road-maps into…

Methodology behind the United Nations’ Scorecard In a carefully choreographed ceremony at the Palais des Congrès in Brazzaville, the United Nations Country Team presented its Results Report 2024 to senior ministers, ambassadors and representatives of civil society. The document aggregates more than eighty performance indicators drawn from the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, national statistics and third-party audits. According to the Resident Coordinator’s office, the methodology privileges government-owned data sets supplemented by household surveys financed by the UN Development Programme and the African Development Bank. This hybrid approach, described by a UN statistician as ‘evidence with local DNA’ (UNCT…

Demographic Momentum and the Policy Imperative With nearly 60 % of its population under thirty, the Republic of Congo faces a demographic surge that is as promising as it is demanding. Government white papers presented to the National Assembly in 2023 underscore the view that productive employment is “a strategic bulwark for social cohesion and national resilience” (Ministry of Planning, Brazzaville, 2023). President Denis Sassou Nguesso has repeatedly framed human-capital development as a pillar of both the national development plan and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, signalling continuity between domestic objectives and continental aspirations. Higher Education’s Skills Gap: From Diagnosis…

A discreet financial pillar in Brazzaville’s diversification drive Amid the more visible state-led infrastructure ventures that dominate headlines, Crédit du Congo has been methodically expanding its mandate from traditional retail banking into the politically salient terrain of investment promotion. The lender—backed by regional shareholders yet operating under the prudential umbrella of the Central African Banking Commission—now frames itself as a partner to the National Development Plan 2022-2026, which prioritises economic diversification beyond hydrocarbons. Senior executives argue that commercial banks possess complementary agility to public agencies, enabling them to sift projects quickly and channel capital to sectors where multiplier effects are…

A decade of maritime resilience in Congolese waters The soft equatorial breeze drifting across the quays of Pointe-Noire carries with it the unmistakable sound of tugboats and container cranes, a symphony that Congo Maritime Services Company (CMS) has learned to orchestrate with growing dexterity since its incorporation in 2014. From a modest shipping agency serving coastal cabotage, CMS has expanded into a multi-faceted service provider encompassing vessel husbandry, offshore logistics, customs facilitation and nautical assistance. Its anniversary, commemorated in early May at the city’s convention centre, provided an apt moment to reflect on how a national operator can anchor itself…

Strategic Timing of a Turkish Entrant When the executives of Istanbul-based Albayrak Group cut the ceremonial ribbon in Brazzaville this spring, they did more than open a new chapter in the firm’s forty-year history; they inserted Turkey’s corporate flag into the commercial arteries of Central Africa at a moment of cautious economic recovery. The International Monetary Fund estimates that Congo-Brazzaville’s non-oil growth could edge above 4 percent in 2024, provided infrastructure bottlenecks ease. Albayrak’s arrival therefore aligns with a macroeconomic window that Congolese officials have described as “propitious for partners willing to share risk as well as opportunity” (IMF country…

Paris venue underscores diaspora’s soft power In the stately halls of La Maison Congo, a stone’s throw from Paris’s bustling Boulevard Saint-Germain, Health Minister Dr Samuel Roger Kamba chose to convene more than one hundred Congolese physicians, nurses and public-health scholars now practising across Europe. The date—29 June—carried quiet symbolism: midway between Kinshasa’s independence festivities and France’s own national celebrations, the gathering was a reminder that the Democratic Republic of Congo’s most strategic resources increasingly extend beyond minerals to the human capital of its diaspora. Diplomatic protocol was observed with care, yet the atmosphere was notably collegial, reinforcing the notion…

A ceremonial moment with strategic undertones The applause that filled Abidjan’s hemicycle on 30 June went well beyond protocol. When Isidore Mvouba, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Congo, accepted Adama Bictogo’s invitation to address Ivorian lawmakers, the gesture signalled the elevation of a long-standing political affinity into a deliberately structured partnership. Diplomats posted in both capitals note that personal chemistry between Presidents Denis Sassou Nguesso and Alassane Ouattara already lubricates executive channels, yet parliamentary convergence had remained comparatively informal. Mvouba’s presence therefore served as both symbol and instrument: symbol of a cross-Gulf camaraderie unbroken since the…

Ceremonial Change of Guard in Riyadh Echoes a Wider Geoeconomic Rebalancing The marble-lined hall of the Saudi Ministry of Finance offered a telling backdrop on 1 July 2025 as regional ministers and African envoys convened to ratify the succession at the helm of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa. The setting was neither Khartoum, where BADEA was born in 1974, nor Nouakchott, the home capital of the outgoing director general, but Riyadh – a deliberate nod to the Kingdom’s growing convening power within the Gulf Cooperation Council and its heightened appetite for African opportunities (Saudi Vision 2030 Progress…

A Surge of Water, a Test of Coordination When torrential rains swelled the Congo and Djiri rivers in late November, low-lying neighbourhoods of Brazzaville were quickly submerged. According to preliminary figures from the National Disaster Management Centre, water levels exceeded seasonal averages by almost eighty centimetres, displacing roughly 5,000 households, most of them in the populous sixth arrondissement, Talangaï. The event is part of a worrying hydrological trend that regional climatologists link to a warming Atlantic and the current El Niño episode (Congolese Meteorological Directorate, December 2023). The floods therefore became an immediate litmus test for the interplay between domestic…