The ministers representing countries of the Congo Basin signed a Memorandum of Understanding creating Congo Basin Blue Fund at Oyo, Republic of Congo, on March 9, 2017. The Blue Fund was conceptualised by the Strategic Foresight Group a few months ago and developed by the Brazzaville Foundation for Peace and Conservation with support from SFG.

The process of creating the Blue Fund has been steered by the Government of Republic of Congo. The proposal was first mooted at the Africa Action Summit of COP 22 in Marrakech, Morocco, in November 2016 and described by the African leaders as one of the four ideas with a potential to transform the future of Africa.

The Blue Fund aims to create a window of preferential and concessional finance for collaborative water related projects, which can contribute to regional peace and stability. It also aims to shift the economic basis of the Congo Basin from deforestation to harnessing the Blue Economy of water resources.

The ministerial signing ceremony in Oyo was chaired by Mr Denis Sassou, President of the Republic of Congo, in the presence of President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria; Mr Alfa Konare, former President of Mali; and HRH Prince Michael of Kent.

In the next few months, a working group is expected to finalise the statutes of the Blue Fund and identify the initial group of collaborative projects to be presented to the international community.

To read the details, please download the document prepared by the Republic of Congo.

To see photos from the visit, please click here.