AFP, Batouri :
President Ali Bongo, who is seeking reelection Saturday, has turned to Asia in his bid to diversify Gabon’s oil-dependent economy, but his critics dismiss the changes as largely cosmetic.
The economy is a key issue in the presidential election, which Bongo hopes will deliver him a second seven-year term.
In the north, a large area of forest is being cleared to make way for a rubber plantation developed by Singapore’s giant Olam group as part of a $400 million investment the company says will generate 5,000 jobs in the long term.
Olam is also set to build a factory to process the rubber and has invested in 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of palm oil plantations in the south.
The agrifood group has also partnered with the Gabonese state to finance a special economic zone at Nkok, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Libreville, to process timber and other raw materials.
Since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his long-ruling father Omar Bongo, the president has courted Asian investment to the point that former colonial power investor France has been somewhat sidelined as a favoured investor.
“I’ve urged French companies to invest much more,” Bongo recently told AFP.
President Ali Bongo, who is seeking reelection Saturday, has turned to Asia in his bid to diversify Gabon’s oil-dependent economy, but his critics dismiss the changes as largely cosmetic.
The economy is a key issue in the presidential election, which Bongo hopes will deliver him a second seven-year term.
In the north, a large area of forest is being cleared to make way for a rubber plantation developed by Singapore’s giant Olam group as part of a $400 million investment the company says will generate 5,000 jobs in the long term.
Olam is also set to build a factory to process the rubber and has invested in 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of palm oil plantations in the south.
The agrifood group has also partnered with the Gabonese state to finance a special economic zone at Nkok, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Libreville, to process timber and other raw materials.
Since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his long-ruling father Omar Bongo, the president has courted Asian investment to the point that former colonial power investor France has been somewhat sidelined as a favoured investor.
“I’ve urged French companies to invest much more,” Bongo recently told AFP.
