By: OrePulse

The Democratic Republic of Congo has officially established a "DRC-USA Task Force" to speed up implementation of its strategic minerals partnership with the United States, according to cabinet meeting notes dated September 11, 2026.

Economy Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba informed the cabinet that the task force is designed to help turn the partnership's commitments into tangible economic and security outcomes for the Congolese people. Beyond that, the government's official statement offered little additional detail, leaving the task force's internal structure, membership, and priority projects unspecified for now.

According to a government official, the task force was slated to begin work in February. Still, administrative delays pushed its formal launch back by more than seven months from that original timeline.

Congo is both the world's top cobalt producer and Africa's second-largest copper exporter. The country signed its strategic minerals partnership with Washington in December 2025, a deal that fits into Kinshasa's broader strategy of diversifying its investment and financing sources away from heavy reliance on China — which has long held a dominant position in Congo's mining industry — while simultaneously strengthening economic and security cooperation with the United States. From Washington's perspective, the partnership serves its goal of reducing China's grip on global critical-minerals supply chains, making Congo's substantial cobalt and copper reserves a matter of real strategic importance.

Setting up the task force signals a transition for the partnership, moving it from the initial agreement phase into actual, on-the-ground implementation. The government highlighted several outcomes it credits to the partnership so far, including a U.S.-backed mining investment channeled through Virtus Minerals and an expanded copper-sales arrangement that has widened Congo's access to Western buyers. Under this arrangement, state mining company Gecamines has ramped up copper sales to trading firms Mercuria and Glencore, effectively diversifying its customer base beyond the traditional buyers it has historically relied on.

At the same cabinet meeting, ministers also signed off on a record-setting $24.8 billion budget for 2027 — a 12% increase compared to the revised spending plan for 2026. This new budget places heightened focus on infrastructure development, security, and economic diversification, priorities that closely mirror the stated goals of both the task force and the broader partnership with the United States.

More than nine months after the original partnership was signed, the task force's formal establishment is meant to give the initiative a concrete institutional framework, as both Kinshasa and Washington work to shift their relationship from a signed agreement on paper to measurable results in practice.