France-Chad Business Forum focuses on industrial growth

The France-Chad Business Forum concluded in Paris, bringing together approximately 250 French and Chadian companies, investors, and public officials to strengthen economic ties between the two nations. Co-organized by MEDEF International and the Republic of Chad, the event follows recent diplomatic discussions between Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno.

Discussions focused on several key sectors, including agriculture, agro-industry, extractive industries, energy, infrastructure, and transport corridors. A central theme was the mobilization of private capital to support Chad’s national development plan, ‘Tchad Connexion 2030,’ particularly in water and electricity projects.

During the forum, General Abdelkerim Charfadine Mahamat, Director General of the Société nationale d’exploitation minière et de contrôle (SONEMIC), advocated for a shift from exporting raw materials to local industrial transformation. He emphasized that developing local processing units and value chains would create more jobs and technical expertise within Chad, rather than merely exporting the country’s natural potential.