25-11-2011 Nieuw bericht uit Rwanda!

Bourbon Café, Kigali hotspot for muzungu’s and Rwandans alike, is a great place to drink good coffee and eat overpriced and not so good food (the free wi-fi somewhat makes up for it, so do the speakers blasting Jody Bernal…).

I’m waiting for two energetic young guys from a local film school to arrive and discuss a short documentary we’re making about mining here in Rwanda. They’re going to an artisanal mine tomorrow run by a cooperative. They will shoot the goings-on at the mine and interview the workers. We hope it will give you and European policymakers an idea of the way the metals on which we so heavily depend are produced. Yesterday I met with the executive secretary of the federation of mining cooperatives in Rwanda, and he had some interesting things to say. The complete lack of equipment is a major problem in upgrading production, and he was very enthusiastic about the idea of a new loan from the European Investment Bank, something they had received in the past. Right now they have to export a lot of their metals unrefined, which means they get a lower price for it than if they had the equipment to refine it to a higher grade.

Only 4 more working days remaining here in Kigali, and it seems they are going to be pretty busy. It is going to be Mining Week next week in the run-up to International Mining Day (December 4th), so the Mining Department is busy planning site visits and all sorts of events. They hope to be able to use this day to inform investors of the opportunities existing in the Rwandan mining sector. Tomorrow there´s also a meeting of a newly formed mining taskforce of concerned officials from different ministries and departments. It is led by someone from the Tony Blair African Governance Initiative, which is providing technical support to various ministries here in Rwanda, among which the Ministry of Natural Resources. Capacity building is something that everyone I talk to assures me is highly needed, not just in policymaking but for instance also in negotiating mining contracts. An area where development policies could make a contribution!