When a foreign investor with multimillion-dollar projects across Africa was told the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo wanted to see him, he booked a suite at one of the country’s top hotels. After six days of waiting, he left.
Since Felix Tshisekedi took the helm of the world’s biggest cobalt producer almost five months ago, private planes jam the main airport in Kinshasa, the capital, and hotel lobbies teem with businessmen and Congolese who’ve returned from countries such as the U.S. and South Africa with hopes of working with his administration.
But it’s been slow going. Tshisekedi only appointed a prime minister last month and hasn’t yet named a cabinet.
“Nobody knows what’s going on — it’s very difficult for businessmen to make sense of what is happening because there is no government,” said Claude Kabemba, director of Johannesburg-based Southern Africa Resource Watch.
“Those who are driving the process are not very concerned about the day-to-day activities of the government and not much concerned about investment.” Huge challenges confront Tshisekedi, 55. The largest and one of the least-developed nations in sub-Saharan Africa, Congo relies entirely on mining for its exports.
For the rest of this article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-18/don-t-be-in-a-rush-to-do-business-in-world-s-top-cobalt-producer