Inviting international investors to explore the country’s hydrocarbons is a step in the right direction for Mali — a country that has recently experienced instability and unsettling corruption.
All Africa reported that New Catalyst Capital Investments, a Czech firm has agreed to invest $69 million in exploring Mali’s Taoudeni Basin, while Ireland-based Circle Oil PLC will invest about $10.3 million in the same area.
Though the country’s newly elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita isn’t due to be inaugurated until September, the transitional government has granted exploration permissions to international companies — a strategy believed to jump-start lacking economic progression, All Africa noted.
“Most companies interested in the region were afraid to invest in it in the past for security reasons,” Ould Habib, a Mauritian political analyst said in the report. “Perhaps the Malian government understood from the international coalition’s involvement against terrorism that there was an opportunity to draw attention to the area and invest in it once security was established and peacekeeping forces, backed by the West, were on the ground.”
Stability in Mali can also be attributed to working cooperative agreements between the Tuareg people and the government.
“Money can overwhelm fear and promote investment in [the] Taoudeni Basin area where three Sahel countries are located,” Mohamed Ould al-Akel, another analyst added.
Habib noted that Mauritania, Algeria and Niger would benefit from Mali’s international investments as development will ensure security and wealth. Greater bilateral cooperation, more jobs for youth and an improvement of overall income for the population, al-Akel said, will sprout from exploration in Mali.
“Enticing international companies to invest in the north will create jobs and push the wheel of development in our region, especially since it comes at a time when all Azawadi factions have agreed to renounce violence and terrorism,” Mohamed Ag Ahmadou, a youth Touareg refugee spokesman said.
Mali’s call for investment is a move described in the report by historian Kabad Ould Abdelrahman as “seizing the opportunity of the war on terrorism to build an economy that helps diminish the chaos across the country.”
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