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Feb, 24, 2000: DROC Creates "One-Stop" Investment Office

"My office, the Special Advisor Responsible for Investments, was created in an effort to show the world community that the DROC has a new view of the country's relationship with investors," Dr. Ntanda Nkingi Nkere, Special Assistant to President Kabila, told a CCA audience at a gathering on February 24.

Dr. Nkere admitted that the DROC Government of President Laurent Kabila had received numerous complaints from investors about the bureaucratic maze in Kinshasa. "Our office is an attempt to remedy those complaints, to see what can be done so that investors feel at ease and can get down to business in the Congo," said Dr. Nkere. Dr. Nkere left his teaching position at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland to return to the Congo and set up the new office at the invitation of President Laurent Kabila.

Nkere's office is designed to take over activities previously undertaken by a variety of Ministries. Potential investors and business people were forced to deal with the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and the sectoral ministries to operate in the Congo. Under the new dispensation, Dr. Nkere and his staff will be the point of contact with the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and will assume responsibility for shepherding investors through the government's processes. "Strong support from President Kabila is our leverage," Nkere said, although he admitted that they had already encountered resistance in getting project files from the bureaucracy.

Nkere noted that investment is currently governed by a code which was inherited from the previous regime and is out of date. A new investment code should be forthcoming later this year, which will deal with taxes, repatriation of profits, and new laws and procedures to facilitate investment.

The Central African conflict is the most crucial issue facing the DROC, Nkere admitted, but called upon investors to come to the Congo when "your involvement will have not only economic consequences, but political and social consequences as well."

Dr. Nkere's program was sponsored by Lazare Kaplan Inc.

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