- DRC President Tshisekedi pledges peaceful elections on 20 December 2023.
- DRC is enjoying five years of steady economic development under President Felix Tshisekedi
- The country is well underway to becoming Africa’s top investment destination.
Since the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi came into power in 2018, he has spearheaded the revamping of the mineral-rich country’s economy.
The numbers tell it all. The DRC GDP in 2018 was $47.57 billion before rising to $51.78 billion in 2019. As of last year, it clocked an impressive $58.07 billion. Had it not been for the economic rout brought by Covid-19, the DRC’s GDP would have been considerably higher.
Today, the DRC is well on its way to attaining its rightful status as a key investment destination in Africa. How did DRC President Tshisekedi manage to drive this economic revolution?
DRC role in regional integration
In a move that has culminated in building stronger regional integration, President Tshisekedi first made it his point, visiting almost all of DRC’s nine neighboring countries. Very strategically, his visits not only built better relations, but placed the DRC at the center of all the regional trading blocs.
Mr Tshisekedi has revamped relations with the East Africa Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). What’s more, he is today the chairperson of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
The year after he took the executive office, Mr Tshisekedi visited Tanzania, Burundi, and South Africa. In Tanzania, a key port country to the East he visited the Dar es Salaam port and struck several bilateral deals with his host Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
In South Africa, he met with President Cyril Ramaphosa, who also made it a point to visit the DRC there afterward. While in South Africa, Tshisekedi attended the DRC-South Africa Economic Forum further cementing trade ties with one of Africa’s economic powerhouses.
President Tshisekedi saw to it that he also revitalized the DRC-South Africa Great Joint Commission. By so doing, he assured long-term relations with the South since the Commission, made up of ministers from both sides, meets regularly to charter bilateral relations.
He did the same for Tanzania, where he actually went twice. On both occasions, he signed bilateral deals for regional infrastructure significantly increasing inter-connectivity with the East African port. He did the same in Burundi and all around South, East, West and North Africa. To date, landlocked DRC has bilateral ties with almost all key African port countries.
Read Also: DRC and EAC: Who stands to gain more from the pact?
President Tshisekedi on DRC-US relations
Internationally, the President rebuilt broken bridges with the US, a country that had put sanctions on the DRC not so long ago before he took power. On several occasions before and thereafter, Tshisekedi has held virtual meetings with US delegates.
Tshisekedi has been reassuring the West that he meant to end the overwhelming corruption in his country. He also wants to stamp out violence by rebel factions and do business with the West.
“We share President Tshisekedi’s interest in developing a strong partnership between the United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” a joint statement from State Department Robert Palladino and the then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asserted.
Soon after, President Tshisekedi headed out to Europe where he met Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the COP26 Summit in Glasgow.
In the UK, President Tshisekedi attended the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London, joining some 20 plus other African nations. In fact, he even went out to the Vatican where he met with Pope Francis.
Read also: DRC President Tshisekedi Tanzania visit increases investments
The Tears of Beni
“The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo discussed the country’s Framework Agreement with the Vatican while emphasizing the role the influential Roman Catholic Church has played in advancing democracy among the Congolese,” a press statement announced.
In a symbolic gesture, President Tshisekedi gifted Pope Francis “The Tears of Beni,” a painting that depicts suffering from conflict in the DRC Eastern provinces.
To wrap it all up, the President addressed the UN General Assembly; “Africa does not need charity, but constructive win-win partnerships to make better use of its collective national wealth and improve the living conditions of its people,” he told the world leaders.
Media quoted President Tshisekedi calling on United Nations Member States to; “materialize all the promises made to Africa in compensation for the sacrifices agreed to protect humanity against global warming.”
“The scourge of insecurity caused by the cohorts of terrorists, armed groups, mercenaries and criminals of all stripes is undermining the institutional stability of young democracies and destroying the efforts of many African leaders to develop their countries. Africa refuses to serve as a base for international terrorism,” he asserted.
Adopting green economy
“These crises cannot obscure the enormous progress made by the majority of African countries in terms of democracy and good governance,” he said, and “…this is how the Congolese people continue their noble and exhilarating struggle against dictatorship, autocracy and the values that still structure our actions.”
He acknowledged the challenges of climate change and the opportunities also attached to adopting a green economy in the DRC. He reasserted that as of that year (2021) alone, Africa needs $30 billion a year to realize the envisioned green transition.
President Tshisekedi also entered into a funding pact with the IMF and to top it off, the DRC is now a beneficiary of various assistance from the World Bank.
None has put President Tshisekedi’s efforts and achievements in his five years in office better than he did when he summed up his vision as making “courageous reforms that will accelerate economic growth to over five per cent a year.”
It is also President Tshisekedi, who called for Africa to be given at least two additional non-permanent members in the UN Security Council and two permanent member seats complete with the right to veto.
President Tshisekedi on AFCFTA
Even the Covid-19 pandemic did not stop DRC President Tshisekedi from pushing for continent-wide economic development and integration. As Chairperson of the African Union (AU), President Tshisekedi accelerated the operationalization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) his priority.
Combating climate change, fostering peace and security on the continent, expediting regional integration, investing in human capital, promoting Africa’s culture and empowering women and youth, have been his agenda and he has made tremendous achievements thus far.
It may be too early to speak but considering he led the first peaceful election in the DRC when he came into power in 2018, then we can expect an equally peaceful election in the DRC later this year.
It is no overstatement to describe DRC President Tshisekedi, as man of the year 2023.
