Gabon pushes for local processing of critical minerals in Brussels

Gabon is making a strong case for a new economic model based on local processing of its critical minerals, moving away from decades of raw material exports. At a high-level conference in Brussels co-organized by the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Investment Bank, the country’s ambassador to Belgium and the European Union, Eudes Régis Immongault Tatangani, outlined a vision that goes beyond national borders.

He called for a new economic contract between producer countries and the rest of the world, one built on local transformation and integration into complete industrial value chains, not on the export of unprocessed resources.

The end of the traditional extractive model

The surge in global demand for critical raw materials is driven by the energy transition, the digital revolution and emerging technologies. Batteries, renewables, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure and advanced industries require ever larger quantities of strategic minerals, much of which is found in Africa.

For Immongault, this is a historic opportunity for producer nations to break away from a rent-based economic model that has lasted decades. He reminded the audience that a country’s wealth is not measured solely by its natural resource abundance. It depends on the ability to turn those resources into sustainable growth, skilled jobs and industrial development.

Economists widely agree that states limiting themselves to raw exports capture only a small share of created value. The real gains concentrate in processing, manufacturing and innovation done elsewhere. Gabon intends to correct that imbalance.

Building African value chains

The Gabonese diplomat advocated an integrated approach from extraction to industrial processing. That strategy requires massive investments in energy, rail, port and logistics infrastructure to support competitive industrialisation.

Libreville has already launched several initiatives to boost local processing of its wood, mining and industrial resources. The goal is clear: gradually reduce reliance on raw material exports while developing domestic industries that create more wealth.

This also meets a new geopolitical need. Producer nations want more influence in international negotiations, no longer to be seen as mere suppliers of resources needed by developed economies, but as full industrial partners.

The demand for balanced partnerships

Beyond infrastructure and investment, Immongault stressed a key condition for transformation: partnership quality. Alliances between states, private investors and financial institutions must include technology transfer, training and local skills development.

This dimension has become central in global debates on critical raw materials. Economic sovereignty is not built on natural resources alone; it also relies on mastering the know-how, technologies and skills to add value.

With its stance in Brussels, Gabon asserts its intention to actively help redefine international economic relations. The country aims to turn its natural potential into an industrial lever and firmly anchor its development in the new dynamics of the global economy.

The battle for critical raw materials will not be won only in mines. It will be won in factories, research centres, logistics hubs and training schools. That is the conviction Gabon brought to Brussels – one that could become a defining economic marker for the continent in the coming decades.