The Minister of Energy, Ms Dipuo Peters will be participating in a workshop on the feasibility study and to finalise negotiations on the great Inga Project Treaty in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in Lumbumbashi on 7 to 8 March 2013.
The Republic of South Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the DRC on 12 November 2011. In developing the MoU, the Department of Energy (DoE) consulted with the departments of International Relations and Coordination, Trade and Industry, National Treasury, Economic Development, and Public Enterprise including ESKOM.
Article 3 of the signed MoU provided for the drafting of a Grand Inga Project Treaty between the two countries, within six months of the signing of the MoU. After extensive consultation and assistance from government departments in South Africa, a draft Grand Inga Treaty was developed and approved by Cabinet.
The Treaty was submitted to the DRC in August 2012 after the appointment of the Honourable Minister Bruno Kapanji Kalala, the Minister of Hydro Resources and Electricity in the DRC. In August 2012, the Minister Dipuo Peters invited her DRC counterpart to commence on the Grand Inga Treaty. A meeting between the officials to negotiate on the draft Treaty was held from 8 to 10 October 2012 in South Africa.
The third meeting between the Republic of South Africa and the DRC to negotiate on the draft Treaty was envisaged as the last meeting to finalise outstanding differences with respect to the tenets of the draft Treaty. That is, the principles that would inform the wording of the Treaty, the governance of the project, financial issues, and the rights and obligations of the partners.
Subsequently, Minister Peters held a bilateral meeting with her counterpart Minister Bruno Kapanji Kalala, in the DRC on 6 February 2013. The two Ministers indicated that their negotiating teams must meet in the DRC, Lumbumbashi from 28 February to 6 March 2013 and finalise the treaty. Both Ministers would then have a bilateral meeting in the DRC on 7 and 8 March 2013 to finalise the text of the Treaty to be submitted to representative governments.
Enquiries:
E-mail: mediadesk@energy.gov.za
Zodwa Batyashe
Tel: 012 4067484
Johannes Mokobane
Tel: 012 406 7481
