India & Congo explore mutual areas of cooperation in the field of Mining

Union Steel & Mines Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in his address said, “Bilateral relations between India and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have always been warm and friendly. We hope that both countries would continue to strengthen the bilateral engagement in various spheres. We would like to assure you of India's continued cooperation in providing technical and financial support for capacity building and skills development. We would like to offer Indian expertise to assist DRC in various priority areas identified by your side and would welcome concrete proposals for collaboration. We are aware of the rich mineral resources available in your country. Our cooperation in this sector can be hugely mutually beneficial. This can extend to our assistance in exploration. Our Industry would also be interested in availing opportunities in the mining sector in addition to procurement of various metals. We would be interested to know about existing mining opportunities and any studies conducted about further exploration works.”

H. E. Mr. Raymond Tshibanda N'Tungamulongo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Democratic Republic of Congosaid, “India, the largest democracy in the world is an important country for us. Congo is area-wise the 2nd largest country in Africa and 4th largest country on population basis. As per IMF data, it is one of the fastest growing countries in the region. There are complementarities between the two countries and to strengthen them we have to translate our vision into a concrete action plan in the coming weeks. We are keen to benefit from the new initiatives taken by the new government in the area of mining and would seek inputs and cooperation on that front. “