The dematerialisation of procedures and documents linked to the export of mining products has revolutionised field practice in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly in the provinces of Lualaba and Haut Katanga, says SEGUCE RDC district chief executive and GM Yann le Roux.

The operating company of the Integral Single Window in the DRC, SEGUCE RDC is responsible for implementing a reform aimed at facilitating the foreign trade of the DRC by setting up an electronic platform to facilitate trade between different actors.

“Our first objective at Mining Indaba is to promote the reform of the DRC's Guichet Unique Intégral du Commerce Extérieur (GUICE), a reform which is built around two major poles,” explains Le Roux.

The first is the GUICE website that enables all operations relating to the import and export of goods in the DRC to be carried out in digital format. The second is SEGUCE RDC, which oversees the roll out of the foreign trade reform in the DRC (providing training and user support) and operating GUICE, including the design, implementation, maintenance and current and future developments.

“Our second objective is to convince the main private and public players in the mining sector, or more generally, in sectors linked to import-export, of the merits of participating actively in the reform,” elaborates Le Roux.

Finally, SEGUCE RDC aims to convince representatives of the many African countries present at Mining Indaba of the benefits of initiating such a reform.

Not only will it improve their international competitiveness, but these countries will also have access to a team of experts who are familiar with the difficulties of this type of reform and the best way of implementing it.

In addition to optimising export costs, miners are equipped with a digital tool that enables them to reduce their costs and remotely and rapidly track the movement of their products in real time with complete peace of mind and transparency.

“In this way, we help African miners and governments to enter the digital version 2.0 of global foreign trade,” concludes Le Roux.