Gabon: Joseph Owondault Berre immersed in the Nkok Special Economic Zone

Constituting today a hub of development and industrialization for Gabon, the Special Investment Zone (SIZ) of Nkok was at the heart of a visit made on Wednesday, February 14, by the Vice President of the Transition, Joseph Owondault Berre. While the aim is to immerse oneself in the functioning and working conditions in this area, the interest of this visit is also to give better visibility to this industrial space.

The Special Investment Zone (SIZ) of Nkok was honored on February 14 by the Vice President of the Republic. Joseph Owondault Berre and his delegation visited this economic site in order to discover the companies established there, particularly in the sectors of wood, recycling, etc. in addition to the International Multisectoral Center for Training and Vocational Education. In this area, he was able to immerse himself in the economic activity that is developing in this multisectoral industrial hub.

Welcomed by the Administrator General of the Administrative Authority, Serge Samy Biveghe, the Vice President was able to discover the Gabonese model of local transformation of natural resources, economic diversification, and investor attractiveness.

Established in October 2012, the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Nkok, which became the Special Investment Zone (SIZ) in January 2023, reflects the will of the former Gabonese authorities to offer a favorable framework for industrialization and diversification of the national economy under the prism of foreign direct investment (FDI).

After a presentation of the zone, the Vice President’s delegation toured the industrial park in order to discover the process of production and export of products made in the SIZ. Stops were made respectively at La Santé Pharmaceutique, specialized in the manufacture of generic drugs, and at Tropical Forest Products, specialized in the manufacture of wood particle boards from wood waste.

The Nkok SIZ is indeed the result of a public-private partnership between the Gabonese Republic and the Arise group through the company Gabon Special Economic Zone (GSEZ).

In this sense, in order to be in line with the will and commitment of the authorities to ensure training and skills transfer for the benefit of nationals, the Vice President visited, alongside the Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, in charge of Civic Education, Camélia Ntoutoume-Leclerg, the International Multisectoral Center for Training and Vocational Education of Nkok.

A Center offering specialized training in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineering, Industrial Drawing, Mechanical Engineering, and many others. Allowing young people in immersion to acquire skills sought after in the market and to open up new professional perspectives.

The visit ended with a planting session of an avocado tree, and then the discovery of the exhibition center of the furniture made by the operators of the Nkok SIZ. At the end of this visit, Joseph Owondault Berre praised the dynamism of the zone. He pointed out that “everything here is brought together to lead to quality projects and achievements”. 

In 2022, at the Nkok SIZ, 144 companies from 17 countries were operating in 22 industrial sectors, including the Gabonese Gold Refinery, the first gold refinery in the Central Africa Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) region. The zone also has a cluster dedicated to wood processing. It houses a one-stop shop with 22 administrative offices and represents 3,500,000 m³ of transformed wood and 622,026 m³ of total exports.