The minister of Finance and Budget, Calixte Nganongo and the French ambassador to Congo, Bertrand Cochery, signed, on November 27 in Brazzaville, the financing agreements as part of the debt relief and development contract (C2D). Estimated at nearly 43 billion FCFA, the projects are mainly intended for underpriviledged social stratums, health and education.

Donations from the French government will be provided by French Development Agency (AFD). Indeed, more than sixty thousand poor people will benefit from social safety nets through the Lisungi project. A second project concerns the construction of drinking water network, the works of which will begin in the first quarter of 2019, to satisfy four hundred thousand inhabitants of the outlying districts of the capital.     

The other three agreements will allow for the financing of river drainage and sanitation works in Pointe-Noire, and support for the national hydrological service; the Téléma project for social reintegration through learning and, finally, the sustainable forest management project in Northern Congo, with initiatives for the benefit of local people and economic diversification. The latter will benefit from additional funding from the French Environment Funding. 

These are major issues that fit in well with AFD's interventions, the French ambassador Bertrand Cochery says. The three main priority sectors will be health, higher education and environment. “ All these initiatives will support the diversification of the congolese economy and efforts of the country that needs the resources and expertise of AFD. The higher education sector will also have a credit”,he added.

In fact, the execution of these projects will depend on the government of Congo through its involvement in the C2D. During the cancellation of the debt of Congo by the Paris Club creditors in 2010, France had opted for a partial cancellation. The government of Congo should repay a remaining part of the debt that France will then pay on projects for Congo; the terms of payment being contained in the C2D. 

For the moment, there is no threath of financing Congo despite the delay in repayment of CD2 instalments due to its current financial situation, both parties assure. Witness Finance minister, Calixte Nganongo, who has welcomed the cooperation that helped to cancel part of the debt and the benefit of high impact projects. " We committed ourselves to pay this debt in order to save the projects.  We have the means ", he said.   

Note the meeting of orientation and follow-up committee of C2D and the signing ceremony of five agreements which took place in the presence of of government members, the Director General of AFD Congo, as well as representatives of the local civil society organizations and France. 

The press Office of the Ministry of Finance