DR Congo’s president spent the week in Washington, courting the White House, lawmakers, and US investors as he pushed to strengthen his country’s hand amid intensifying Western interest in critical minerals.
Speaking at a US Chamber of Commerce event on Thursday, Félix Tshisekedi cast DR Congo as a “strategic partner” in Washington’s push to secure supply chains for technologies used in everything from electric vehicles to AI technologies.
Like other African countries, DR Congo, the world’s largest source of cobalt, wants to move beyond the export of raw materials toward processing and manufacturing: “We want industrial projects that create local jobs, transfer technology, and respect environmental and social standards,” Tshisekedi said. The central African country’s supply chain is dominated by Chinese players who are involved in everything from mining the metals through to processing and refining, which mostly takes place in China.
Tshisekedi, who last December signed a US government partnership to prioritize US investors in its mining sector, linked the latest investment opportunity directly to security, arguing that illicit mining and informal supply chains help fuel violence in eastern DR Congo. Formalizing those chains and strengthening traceability, he said, were essential to stabilizing the country and protecting long-term investments.
