Libreville, Tuesday, 9 June 2026 – Just hours after officially launching work on the Kobe-Kobe deepwater port on Gabon’s Atlantic coast, President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema convened a strategic circle of ambassadors and representatives from the major powers involved in the project in Nyonie.
More than a simple diplomatic audience, this meeting set the tone for an ambition now openly embraced: transforming Gabon into a leading industrial, logistics, and mining hub in Central Africa.
Through this high-level exchange, the head of state aimed to send a clear message to international partners. Kobe-Kobe is not merely a port infrastructure. It forms the foundation of a new economic model designed to prepare for the post-oil era, strengthen the country’s economic sovereignty, and reposition Gabon within global value chains.
A new economic doctrine
The Kobe-Kobe project revolves around one of Africa’s most strategically important assets: the Belinga iron ore deposit, with estimated reserves of nearly 7.5 billion tonnes at an exceptional grade of about 65%, ranking among the world’s largest undeveloped deposits.
But the real breakthrough lies in the chosen approach. For decades, Africa’s extractive economy followed a simple pattern: extract raw materials and export them in unprocessed form. The project presented by Gabon’s president aims precisely to break with that logic.
The future integrated complex combines four complementary infrastructures: the Belinga mine, an electric railway stretching over 500 kilometres, a deepwater port capable of accommodating the largest international vessels, and energy infrastructure to power the entire industrial system.
This vertical integration targets a precise goal: retain more added value within the national territory and foster a genuine Gabonese steel industry capable of locally processing part of the mining output.
Diplomacy of multiple partnerships
Facing the diplomats gathered at Kobe-Kobe, Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema also outlined what now appears as one of the pillars of his international strategy: diversification of partnerships.
The Gabonese president insisted on a principle that has become central to his development vision. The country’s future cannot depend on a single partner or a single sphere of influence. It must rely on open cooperation involving several economic and industrial powers.
This orientation is already materialising in the composition of the international consortium mobilised around the project. China is involved in railway and mining infrastructure. France is present through several logistics operators. Italy, India, the United States, and Australia are also contributing their industrial, financial, energy, or commercial expertise.
This international architecture responds to a dual logic: securing the financing and technologies needed for major projects while preserving Gabon’s decision-making autonomy.
The ambassadors of France, Fabrice Mauriès, and China, Zhou Ping, praised this approach, which they consider balanced and full of new cooperation opportunities. Their public support also reflects the growing interest Gabon has attracted from international investors since the establishment of the Fifth Republic.
The industrial bet of Central Africa
Beyond infrastructure, Kobe-Kobe represents an ambitious economic wager. Government projections mention more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in the long term, the emergence of a vast domestic subcontracting network, and a powerful ripple effect across the entire economy.
Transport, energy, logistics, metallurgy, services, engineering, vocational training, construction, and industrial maintenance could all directly benefit from this gigantic economic corridor.
The geopolitical impact is equally significant. With its future deepwater port, Gabon could become one of the main maritime gateways of Central Africa, at a time when regional competition among logistics platforms is intensifying.
By asking the diplomats to relay this vision to their governments, financial institutions, and business operators, Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema is now seeking to widen the circle of investors around the project.
Thus, Kobe-Kobe appears as much more than a construction site. It symbolises a national strategy aimed at turning natural resources into an industrialisation lever, attracting international capital while consolidating the country’s economic sovereignty.
If the stated objectives are met, Gabon could, within the next decade, shift from being a raw material exporter to a major industrial player in Central Africa. The meeting with international partners right after the launch of works shows that, for Libreville, the battle for development is no longer fought only on national soil. It is now being waged on a global scale.
