On July 15, 2022, Louis Watum, president of the Chamber of Mines of the Congo Gold, expressed his desire to set up an institutionalized platform for quarterly consultations in the mining sector of the government at a media conference held in Kinshasa.

The Chamber of Mines expressed concern about the government's efforts to clean up the business environment, such as the elimination of 14 import and export taxes and the reduction of 22 taxes at last week's ministerial meeting.

The Chairman of the Legal Committee of the Confederation of Congolese Enterprises raised the difficulties faced in enforcing the law on private sector subcontracting and suggested ways to resolve them.

Lawyer Michel Eboma, chief adviser to President Tshisekedi on mining and energy, explained the basis for the enforcement of the subcontracting law.

Previous reports: The Association of Chinese-funded Mining Enterprises and the Chamber of Commerce of the Congo Gold Mining Industry exchanged views on the subcontracting law and other issues

On July 7, 2022, Louis Watum, Chairman of the Chamber of Mines of the Congo Gold, received a delegation from the Association of Chinese Enterprises (USMCC) in Lubumbashi, capital of Upper Katanga Province, and the two sides exchanged views on issues in the mining sector of the Congo Gold.

The two sides discussed the following issues:

· Current application of the DRC subcontracting law;

· Government and tax authorities do not comply with the tax system stipulated in the mining law;

· State organs misinterpret relevant provisions of the law;

· The image of Chinese enterprises in Gangang has been damaged.

On the issue of subcontracting, Chinese enterprise associations have expressed some misgivings and concerns about the subcontracting law and the difficulties encountered in its enforcement.

The Congolese Chamber of Mines, for its part, stressed the importance of the enforcement of subcontracting laws by all operators, particularly in the mining sector, in favour of the emergence of a middle class in the DRC.

Congo calls for gold mining chamber of commerce association of Chinese enterprises to strengthen cooperation with them, let more Chinese mining enterprises to join the chamber of commerce, collective action on some concerned problem, lobbying the government, but at the same time also to request Chinese companies abide by the laws of the local, to carry out the stability mechanism of dialogue, mining sector information spread in time sharing.

Excerpts from - The Golden Day Congo