Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:00because the report was
00:00:01absolutely have customs arrived, but just after this session we will meet
00:00:06also have our friends from with the president, I announce already with the president of the administrative and legal affairs commission,
00:00:09the president of the economy and
00:00:13finance commission and the bureau so that we can find a
00:00:16modus
00:00:19operandi that would allow us to effectively have a
00:00:23definitive report because there are certain
00:00:25issues to clarify between the commission and the government, so
00:00:29we will meet quickly for a few minutes
00:00:32on this matter. So, this being said, we can
00:00:36therefore consider that the budget
00:00:40orientation debate
00:00:43which lays the foundations of a budget inscription process
00:00:47for the medium-term budget framework
00:00:512027
00:00:52and 2029 has taken
00:00:56place and if everyone
00:00:59agrees with us, we will therefore
00:01:02declare the session
00:01:05Sasungusu, President of the Republic, Head of closed. The session is adjourned. The
00:01:09departure of the honorable president of the National Assembly, followed by
00:01:13Sahi, Minister of Government, the honorable members of the bureau of the entire
00:01:17session, thank you. So, we'll meet again.
00:01:21We have therefore come to the end of this session dedicated to the budget
00:01:24orientation debate. Let's very
00:01:27schematically review the aggregates...
00:01:31by the Prime Minister and Head of Government that in terms of budgetary revenues, the
00:01:35Prime Minister said that these revenues will grow by an
00:01:38average of 3.6
00:01:41% per year. For example, in 2027, revenues
00:01:44would be 2971 billion CFA
00:01:47francs. In 2028, 3060
00:01:51billion CFA francs. In 2029,
00:01:543189.
00:02:00billion, sorry, let me rephrase, 3,
00:02:033149.7
00:02:05billion CFA francs. So these increases will be driven by
00:02:09the increase in tax revenues and
00:02:12the optimization of hydrocarbon
00:02:14and natural gas
00:02:17production. Expenditures will experience an
00:02:21average growth of 2.5
00:02:24%. That's what we can take away and finally
00:02:27add that the financing strategy will consider
00:02:31recourse to budgetary support from technical and financial partners. Earlier,
00:02:35in the conclusion of the Prime Minister, Head of Government, and the
00:02:39President of the National Assembly, the possibility
00:02:42of concluding an agreement with the International
00:02:46Monetary Fund was mentioned, and we know that Congo also
00:02:49benefits from the technical support of the World
00:02:54and dissolution of Bank and the AfDB to avoid unconstitutional debts.
00:02:57No... improve
00:03:00to rather combat
00:03:03unconventional debt. The Prime Minister also
00:03:06spoke of a plan for
00:03:10question of governance and the the conclusion, we repeat, we say it again at the top
00:03:12of our voices, of a new program with the IMF focused on
00:03:15resilience and sustainability.
00:03:23the entire process of
00:03:37of the challenges of environmental
00:03:47governance, and so the head of
00:04:16structuring, talking about
00:05:02already done. The question of
00:07:22is an industrial and commercial establishment. Its
00:07:25contribution to the national economy
00:07:29has been very significant. Nowadays,
00:07:32this public establishment, which has challenges to overcome,
00:07:36is nevertheless facing numerous difficulties.
00:07:39Thus, Séraphin Mundi, Director General,
00:07:42made it his duty to inform public opinion about the history
00:07:46and operation of the autonomous port of Brazzaville and its
00:07:49secondary ports. The port of secondary ports was
00:07:52created by ordinance 4 -
00:07:55February 16, 2000, signed by
00:07:58His Excellency Mr. Denis Assun Guesso, President of the Republic,
00:08:02Head of State, and this followed the session
00:08:06the ex-ATC. At that time, it was a single
00:08:09company that encompassed the port of Pointen.
00:08:43and then you have the General Directorate and the General Directorate
00:08:47has several directorates, you have
00:08:50first the Deputy General, then the other directorates, it's the
00:08:54harbor master's office, that is, what we call the port commander
00:08:58who manages safety and security issues,
00:09:01plus managing the fresh water on the ships that
00:09:05enter the port, and you have the operations
00:09:07department, you have the financial and
00:09:11accounting department, you... you have the equipment department,
00:09:14you have the general
00:09:17secretariat and you have
00:09:20the state body that accompanies us in the monitoring of budget execution, which
00:09:24is the budget control department. This is at the level of the
00:09:28the history of the autonomous port of Brazzaville allows us to
00:09:32understand the difficulties it faces today.
00:09:34Indeed, behind
00:09:38this institution lies a complex
00:09:40reality. To build the future, it
00:09:44is still necessary to face reality, and the
00:09:48assessment made by the general management is unequivocal.
00:09:51The current situation is that it is a port that is unfortunately today
00:09:54in a very dilapidated state. This means
00:09:58that the infrastructures are no longer
00:10:00up to par. There has been underinvestment for several
00:10:04years, and this leads us to the fact that today
00:10:08the infrastructures are in a very bad state, whether
00:10:12it is at the port of Brazzaville
00:10:15Strectosense or the other secondary sites where, in reality, when
00:10:18you arrive, you feel that the equipment and fortunes
00:10:22have taken a serious hit, and this
00:10:25for several reasons. You know that the country is going through very
00:10:28difficult financing times, and so we reorient
00:10:32the financing where it is more important or more urgent,
00:10:35and this leads us to this situation today. The current situation is not at
00:10:39all up to par, it is quite
00:10:42weak, but is that a reason to despair? No, we
00:10:46do not despair. However, despite this
00:10:49worrying situation, perspectives exist,
00:10:52projects are already underway to reverse the
00:10:55trend.
00:10:57Faced with difficulties, Congolese authorities are now focusing
00:11:01on a vast rehabilitation and modernization
00:11:04program. There was a
00:11:07time when itomi and lekiti were part of the port
00:11:10area of Braville, the port of Braville and secondary port, but the DC
00:11:142019 made these ports leave, so as not
00:11:18to fall, now they depend on the autonomous port of OYO. Future
00:11:21prospects, there is also and this is
00:11:25perhaps the opportunity to salute His Excellency Mr. Denis
00:11:30State, Mr. Anatol Conoso,
00:11:33Prime Minister, Head of Government, Mr. Honoré
00:11:38Fisheries, Economy and Navigable Waterways, and it is therefore under
00:11:42their leadership that a new wind is blowing over the
00:11:45sector. In particular, a few years ago, the
00:11:48government signed an agreement with the World Bank
00:11:51to finance the rehabilitation and/or
00:11:55construction of certain ports,
00:11:57and the plan provides for the rehabilitation of the port of Brazzaville,
00:12:01in particular the Euro site
00:12:03and the construction of a port in Bétou,
00:12:07the construction of a port in Liranga, the construction of a port in
00:12:10Macotipoko, it will come to fruition, and also
00:12:14provides for the rehabilitation and restructuring of certain
00:12:17ports such as Mosaka, Infondo, and
00:12:21so these are good prospects, and
00:12:24is already in place, teams are working on it, and we
00:12:28hope that in a few years things will go in the
00:12:31right direction. But, beyond
00:12:34infrastructure, a port remains above all a
00:12:38human organization.
00:12:40Thus, behind every ship welcomed and every
00:12:44merchandise processed, there are women and men who
00:12:47devote themselves to their tasks with dedication and
00:12:50passion. These women and men are unsung
00:12:53heroes who keep the port alive every day.
00:12:57The personnel who are under the general
00:13:00secretary's authority, both men and women, we
00:13:03have 144 agents
00:13:06subdivided into 97 men and
00:13:0947 women who accompany us
00:13:12daily in our tasks. So in terms of
00:13:15needs, let's start with
00:13:18the men, the PAB needs well-trained
00:13:22men, without men... we all know, it's
00:13:26the primary resource of a company, so
00:13:29we need to have well-trained men, and
00:13:32at the time there was a training center here, right? Today it
00:13:36no longer exists, and so this means that our men have
00:13:40difficulty in updating our men's knowledge.
00:13:43Having spoken of men, which is obvious, you obviously
00:13:47have the equipment and infrastructure, if the
00:13:50equipment is old, if the equipment is old, it causes
00:13:54extra costs. Users, that is, shipowners who bring their
00:13:57boats, it will cost them much more, because approaching the boat will be
00:14:01difficult, sometimes even impossible to dock because access is even
00:14:05difficult, so equipment, infrastructure
00:14:08and men, this triptych can make tomorrow the port
00:14:11can write new letters in its
00:14:15history, because a modern port does not only
00:14:19rely on its infrastructure,
00:14:21but also on the quality of its services.
00:14:25Every day, goods and passengers
00:14:28transit through the autonomous port of Brazzaville, but
00:14:31concretely, what is its role? It's like in any port,
00:14:35right? For us, it's about receiving ships, processing
00:14:38them, and making sure that the passengers
00:14:42or goods that transit, in fact, here it's just a breaking
00:14:45point. The port, technically, is a breaking point. You have
00:14:49goods coming from all over, you have passes coming from all over, and then it
00:14:53branches out. So we receive... the goods from
00:14:56ships. Well, "ships" is even too strong a word. We can
00:15:00say in our terms, since we are on river transport, we will talk about
00:15:04barges, more barges, and then some boats
00:15:07that these boats and these barges transport
00:15:11material, transport goods. Arriving at
00:15:14the port, the port processes
00:15:17them, meaning they go through all the procedures at customs, at
00:15:21sanitary services, everyone checks, and...
00:15:25Then the users take back their goods, either when importing,
00:15:28that is, when they come from other parts of the country, they arrive in
00:15:32Brazzaville, then the goods, or else they
00:15:36come here to leave for the hinterland or to other
00:15:39countries like the DRC. So fundamentally, we process goods and
00:15:42passengers. Fundamentally,
00:15:45also, for a port to function, one
00:15:49essential element is needed: boats. Without a fleet,
00:15:52there is no traffic. Without traffic, there is no
00:15:56port activity. You can imagine that
00:16:00we must start from the principle that there can be no port without
00:16:02ships. And from the moment the
00:16:05national fleet, the national shipowner at the time,
00:16:09Socotraf, who alone managed the
00:16:12flow, the boats, the ships, once
00:16:15these boats no longer exist, it directly
00:16:18impacts port activity. Without
00:16:21boats, the port cannot survive. And so
00:16:25it has negatively impacted, and we feel
00:16:27it today in terms of turnover. There was a time when we
00:16:31could make a turnover of about 5 to 6 or 7 billion.
00:16:34Today, we hardly reach
00:16:372 billion, 2.3 billion. This tells you that the turnover has
00:16:41almost decreased by almost 50 % because the
00:16:44fleet no longer exists, and it is a question of supply and demand. If
00:16:48you have the offer of transport that is there, people
00:16:52will come, and the offer of transport being limited, the impact is
00:16:55felt at the level of port activity.
00:16:59This drop in traffic directly impacts
00:17:02the economic performance of the
00:17:05port.
00:17:07The difficulties, certain periods of the year are
00:17:10conducive for the port to find a
00:17:14higher level of activity. According to our studies, when
00:17:17we look at the statistics, they show that it is from June to
00:17:20September that we make rather good
00:17:24revenues, in quotation marks, meaning that at that time there are many activities
00:17:27taking place because it is the period when people build, when people
00:17:31try, you feel that activity increases
00:17:35for several reasons, and in this period from... to September, it is the good
00:17:38period when we still generate good
00:17:41revenues. Besides the economic activity itself,
00:17:45there are issues related to the environment.
00:17:49Indeed, the environmental issue is today
00:17:52imposed on all transport infrastructure in the world.
00:17:56The autonomous port of Brazzaville is not exempt from this
00:17:58reality. I think that we can only meet the challenge
00:18:02through willpower. First,
00:18:05we need to raise awareness. Let's be aware
00:18:08that the challenges, the environment, is a
00:18:12real problem. Once we are aware of that, we will
00:18:16have to implement plans and programs so that
00:18:19at least what concerns us, we can curb it. You
00:18:23will notice yourself when you go to the port area, there is something that strikes
00:18:26you, it is the scale, for example, of
00:18:28waste. Port waste
00:18:32is immense, enormous, and we
00:18:35already have in the pipeline a project
00:18:39that we will be able to discuss with our partners. For now,
00:18:42we have partners who have approached us, who are based in
00:18:46London, with whom we will be able to set up
00:18:49a study first so that we can clearly
00:18:53identify what types of waste and the actual
00:18:57quantity are, so that we can set up
00:19:01collecting this waste up to its transformation and even
00:19:04turning it into biogas, and so... it's
00:19:08a huge challenge, but
00:19:11let's start step by step. We are aware
00:19:14protection, but we will start by taking the right
00:19:17approach, by carrying out studies and assessments, and then
00:19:21little by little we will manage to set up
00:19:24probably even perhaps a small factory
00:19:27at the port level to process all the waste because most of it flows
00:19:31into the river here. This environmental
00:19:34transformation also requires solid
00:19:38partnerships. No port operates alone,
00:19:41its efficiency relies on an ecosystem of public
00:19:45and private actors. So, the partners of PBS, we
00:19:49have the very first one, it's
00:19:52TBC. TBC is actually a concession that the
00:19:56government signed, initially with the
00:19:59former Bolloré which was taken over by MSC, and they
00:20:03manage the concession where we have, if you will, the most
00:20:07useful part of the port, the container park, the public part.
00:20:11If you go, you will see on the other side there, you have cranes and
00:20:14you have a small container park. That's TBC, it's really the biggest partner who
00:20:18manages with us, and then the other partners are the
00:20:22shipowners, those who use our port as
00:20:26a home port who serve it, who come from
00:20:30either the DRC or the Central African Republic
00:20:32to transport their goods. The port
00:20:36is a partner with these structures that I
00:20:40am talking about, there are institutional partners, for example, customs.
00:20:43You cannot have a port, since
00:20:47it is a border, you must
00:20:51officials to see what is happening in their sovereign mission. You
00:20:56immigration, from the police who are
00:20:59institutional partners and from the gendarmerie who help us to continue
00:21:03to ensure safety and security in our area under
00:21:06our jurisdiction, but the
00:21:09true ambition of the port lies in its
00:21:12modernization. The future of the autonomous port of
00:21:15Brazzaville lies in two words: modernization and digital.
00:21:21The strategic vision, of course, we have it, we have expressed
00:21:24it many times. Today, the
00:21:28vision is to make the port as well as secondary
00:21:31ports reach modernity,
00:21:34that is to say that we are digitizing
00:21:38all our services, all our processes, without
00:21:40which no efficiency can be
00:21:43achieved. Apart from and thanks to digitalization, we can be sure,
00:21:47there are several advantages. One of them is already
00:21:51the increase in revenues because
00:21:54the fewer human interferences there are, the better,
00:21:58and this will allow us to manage and facilitate many
00:22:01things, to make sure that for both users and ports, we are
00:22:04win-win. And so we have a project within the framework of this legislation, there is a
00:22:08project that we are implementing which is to set up
00:22:11a single window for port operations where everything will be
00:22:15digitized, where there will no longer be any contact between people and
00:22:19users, so that when you arrive on your smartphone, you can pay and it
00:22:23goes online. So it's this vision of
00:22:26digitizing and at the same time modernizing,
00:22:30because once you digitize, it's very good, but the
00:22:33infrastructures must follow. And so
00:22:36these two pillars concern us, and we have them in our strategy. And besides, in this
00:22:39vein, we are working with a partner,
00:22:43a law firm that will be able to set up a strategic
00:22:47development plan for the port. By the end of it, you
00:22:50will have a strategic plan, the broad lines that we will draw, how we intend
00:22:54to, which will be the starting point, because without a strategic
00:22:58development plan for POBY, the rest... uh, you have, for
00:23:01example, the port of Antwerp and Bruges
00:23:04in Belgium, which is one of the largest
00:23:08that they even have a bit of a river port, they have a part
00:23:12with access to the sea, but then it's inland. So
00:23:16but there they have reached a level of automation and digitalization
00:23:20that is possible, and that is our dream: to make
00:23:24tomorrow this port completely digitized
00:23:27and that it has good security for all our
00:23:29users. This modernization is part of a
00:23:33broader reflection on the governance of public
00:23:36enterprises. Around the world, many
00:23:40ports have profoundly evolved over the past decades.
00:23:43Some have chosen to open
00:23:46their activity more to the private sector.
00:23:50Others have relied on public-private partnerships
00:23:53to accelerate their modernization. In
00:23:56Congo too, the
00:24:00involvement of the private sector regularly
00:24:02sparks debate: what economic model should
00:24:06be adopted to strengthen the competitiveness of the autonomous port of
00:24:10Brazzaville? We can say that it is an
00:24:14excellent idea. We
00:24:16start from the principle that privatization does not come out of nowhere.
00:24:21"It's because the head of state has observed
00:24:25how public companies behave, or at least how the
00:24:28governance of companies was done. The observation is
00:24:31alarming. Most public companies do not have good
00:24:37state, when he takes this initiative, we can only
00:24:40adhere to it. And that is why in our teams here, we are
00:24:44working to improve our governance so that when the time
00:24:48comes, we are at the forefront of the partners' expectations
00:24:52when they arrive, they find that there is serious and transparent
00:24:55governance, and that is a good thing for us.
00:24:59So, privatizing is no problem, there's no fear,
00:25:03no fear at all. On the
00:25:05contrary, the teams are working to make the port more
00:25:09efficient. It's an invitation for us who have the opportunity today to do
00:25:12better. When the private sector comes, it will realize that things
00:25:16are very good here, and I can say that if things are done well, there
00:25:20won't even be privatization, because the private sector that comes, we will
00:25:24just... look at history, everywhere that has been privatized,
00:25:28it's often with the same people, but with different
00:25:31results. So it's a question of awareness from us that the
00:25:35head of state trusts to say "improve governance and
00:25:39let's go" rather than being afraid. In any case, at our level, we
00:25:42are not afraid, it's welcome. With better governance, when the
00:25:46partners come, they won't have much to do but to accompany, which is
00:25:52governance is closely linked to that of sustainable
00:25:55development, because modernizing a port does not only
00:25:59mean investing in infrastructure,
00:26:02but also guaranteeing growth that respects
00:26:06environmental standards and international
00:26:09commitments. What about the MARPOL
00:26:13convention? Does it apply to the autonomous ports of
00:26:16Brazzaville and its secondary ports?
00:26:19Fundamentally, what is MARPOL? It is
00:26:22the convention for the pollution of
00:26:26ships, and it concerns more the maritime
00:26:28aspect. The MARPOL convention.
00:26:32Because here it's a whole story, right? The first convention, you know,
00:26:36was adopted on November 2, 1973. That's when
00:26:39MARPOL began. Then you have 78, and
00:26:42after that, you have about 5, six annexes to the MARPOL
00:26:46convention, which address certain aspects,
00:26:50for example, how to manage waste, for example, how to manage
00:26:53toxic products, and so on. So it fundamentally
00:26:57concerns ships that go to sea. Here,
00:27:01it's not the same type of ship, and it's not the same architecture when designing
00:27:04ships. So applying MARP which deals with the
00:27:08maritime domain to the fluvial domain, it has caused a lot of
00:27:11confusion, although globally we can be
00:27:14inspired by it, we can be inspired by it by saying
00:27:17we must fight against pollution from ships,
00:27:21uh and if you even look at the history, how did it start? with
00:27:24oil tankers, large ships that transport
00:27:28fuel, and it is there when accidents start
00:27:31to occur. that the International Maritime Organization
00:27:35began to regulate this question, so MARP
00:27:38yes, but it has many requirements. Basically, if
00:27:42we asked the port to apply the MARPOL convention,
00:27:45it's not even about that. What is it about? It will be about, if we even want
00:27:48to replicate it in the maritime part, what we call a bit the Paris
00:27:52Memorandum of Understanding, the Paris MOU. There we talk
00:27:56about port state control, meaning that the control of the port
00:27:59state, when the ships arrive, well the state has
00:28:02the obligation to control to know if these ships are in compliance with
00:28:06the conventions of the International Maritime Organization. So
00:28:10you see, it's a whole field that makes it so that here
00:28:14at the river level due to the configuration of the ships, we cannot
00:28:17apply it in the same way, it's
00:28:20completely different. If international standards
00:28:24constitute an essential framework, the realities
00:28:27on the ground also require adapted responses
00:28:31to the specificities of the... Congo River, because,
00:28:34beyond the regulations, navigation remains
00:28:38confronted with very real natural constraints. The
00:28:42Congo River offers exceptional
00:28:45potential, but, like all great
00:28:48waterways, it is subject to natural phenomena that
00:28:52directly influence navigation.
00:28:55The progressive silting of certain areas constitutes
00:28:58today one of the main technical challenges of the fluvial
00:29:01sector. It is clear that the low water level
00:29:05is a natural phenomenon
00:29:07and Brazzaville suffers from this phenomenon
00:29:11and every time there is a lack of rain
00:29:14or not enough water, it means there is no more rain, well the
00:29:18sand rises and ships have difficulty navigating. Last
00:29:22year we already took responsibility, we launched a dredging plan, if you followed
00:29:26the press release that for the first time a
00:29:29dredging operation of the Euro site, not to mention, was
00:29:33done and so for us it is a requirement so that every year we
00:29:37can plan in our budgets the dredging for now it is
00:29:40limited to Brazzaville because it is still the lifeblood of our
00:29:43company but the logic would be that in the long term
00:29:47we can extend this dredging to other parts
00:29:50of the ports that are under our direction but that
00:29:53said, the marking of navigable
00:29:57waterways is not the responsibility of the port of Brazzaville or secondary ports, that
00:30:00is the responsibility of the maintenance service for navigable waterways, it is a
00:30:04service between the Central African Republic and Congo.
00:30:08Today, this name was supposed to take care of that, but because of
00:30:12funding that is increasingly rare, they have difficulty
00:30:15doing their job. Otherwise, the dredging matter is a
00:30:18constant concern, we are thinking about it and by then we will probably
00:30:22launch another dredging in the sites that are under our
00:30:25direction, notably in Brazzaville.
00:30:28Guaranteeing navigability of the river is an
00:30:31essential condition for the development of fluvial
00:30:34transport, but beyond infrastructures and technical
00:30:38works, the real challenge remains human,
00:30:41because the future of the sector depends above all on the
00:30:45generations that will keep it alive.
00:30:48Behind every high-performing port are trained
00:30:51men and women, committed and
00:30:54oriented towards the future. For the general director of the Autonomous Port
00:30:58of Brazzaville,