The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said on Wednesday it would promote the development of domestic battery manufacturing capacity to increase the value of exports of minerals such as cobalt and copper, Reuters reported.
Congo has two-thirds of the world's cobalt ore, an ingredient in lithium-ion batteries, and is Africa's biggest copper producer. Demand for cobalt is rising in electric cars and electronics.
But DRC, one of the world's least developed countries, exports minerals for a fraction of the final cost of the batteries, most of which are made in Asia.
At a two-day business forum in the capital Kinshasa, Prime Minister Samar Lukonde announced a series of measures aimed at speeding up the development of battery manufacturing.
Mr Lucomte announced the creation of a battery council with the aim of "piloting government policies to develop a regional value chain around the battery industry".
In addition, he said the government was committed to introducing a special purpose vehicle that would mobilise private sector funding to support battery manufacturing.
Neither Prime Minister Luconde nor DRC President Tshisekedi, who also attended the forum, provided specifics on how long the initiatives would take to set up or how they would be funded.
Weak governance, pervasive corruption and limited infrastructure have long prevented significant investment beyond resource extraction in Congo.
Hakainde Hichilema, president of neighbouring Zambia, told the forum his country was ready to work with Dr Congo and other countries in the region to develop Africa's industrial capacity. Zambia is Africa's second largest copper producer.
"We need to synchronize our continental strategy with the value chain," he said.
Several development banks, including the African Development Bank, also signed a commitment to help develop Congo's battery industry, but the text of the agreement was not immediately available.
