Neolectum - Mining, Petroleum & Telecommunications Conference & Showcase in the UEMOA Region-

Event postponed
Keep in touch for new dates

UEMOA, the West African Economic and Monetary Union, represents a market of more than 70 million consumers with a common currency, the CFA Franc. Member countries of the Union are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

---

UEMOA Min-Tel 2009 – Niamey, 24–26 February 2009

2nd Mining, Petroleum & Telecommunications Conference & Showcase in the UEMOA Region

After a successful debut in 2006, Niger will host the 2nd UEMOA Min-Tel Conference and Showcase, which brings together professionals and decision makers in three of the region’s most dynamic development sectors: mining, petroleum and telecommunications.

The event creates the right atmosphere for information, education and commerce, gathering key public and private sector players from Africa and around the world.

The conference has a wide geographical reach – the only one of its kind to focus on mining, petroleum & telecommunications in the whole UEMOA region. It features high profile delegates, is sponsored by major market players and is attended by the region’s most economic & political decision makers.

A showcase will be held alongside the conference, which is a great opportunity for producers & suppliers to demonstrate their products and services to delegates and trade visitors, assess demand and discuss business. 

UEMOA Min-Tel 2006 statistics

A market attractive for investment

Located at the crossroads between North and Sub-Saharan Africa, the UEMOA is a hub of trans-Saharan exchanges. In recent years, the region has undergone progressive economic liberalisation and given the private sector a larger role in economic and social development. New investment codes have been established to attract foreign direct investment.

Mining

UEMOA is an important part of the world in terms of mineral production. To attract private investment in this sector, the Union has recently established a common mining code, aimed at unifying investment laws. 

Did you know..? 

• Niger is thought to hold the world’s biggest uranium reserves. Important reserves of gold and coal lie in the west and north of the country respectively. Although the extent of deposits is yet to be accurately explored and assessed the country is rapidly expanding its export capacity through a new round of licensing foreign miners
• Gold mining accounts for a significant part of the national economy in Mali.  56.75t of gold were exported in 2007. The country has enormous prospects for further gold discoveries, with potential reserves estimated at 350t a year
• The minerals industry in Senegal produces approximately 20% of the country’s export earnings and 20% of its GDP
• There has been a major drive to promote investment in minerals in Burkina Faso. Over $100 million has been invested over the past few years on 130 prospecting licenses
• Côte d’Ivoire has considerable mineral potential and significant reserves of gold, diamonds, iron, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese and bauxite have been identified
• Benin has gold, iron ore and phosphate potential and has awarded several exploration licenses for gold exploration in the country to foreign investors
• Geochemical processing has covered most of Togo and several areas have been highlighted for potential diamond, gold, base metal and PGE deposits
• In Guinea-Bissau, investment opportunities lie in the country’s reserves of bauxite, phosphates, diamonds and gold.

Oil and Gas

Africa’s secure offshore locations, combined with political instability in the Middle East, are driving a growing market for oil and gas in the UEMOA region.

Upstream
The UEMOA boasts significant petroleum reserves; with many more still to be explored. Petroleum research is currently ongoing in Mali’s five sedimentary basins and in the Djado Basin in Niger, and blocks have been allocated to major exploration companies. Reserves in the Benin sedimentary basin have been estimated at 1086.6 million barrels on three sites, and research shows that the Benin coastal basin could contain up to 7 billion barrels of oil. Other UEMOA countries, such as Senegal and Togo are actively promoting interest in unexplored petroleum reserves.

Downstream
The downstream industry in many UEMOA states is largely reliant on refined petroleum products imported from neighbouring countries. Guinea-Bissau, where oil-derived products supply 95% of the country’s commercial energy needs, is dependent on the import of petroleum. In Mali, fuel products are imported from Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Benin and Togo.  Niger has recently joined Nigeria and Algeria as a co-sponsor for the US$10 billion Trans-Saharan pipeline. The pipeline is set to be completed by 2015 and will boost Niger’s role in global energy development.

Telecommunications

To strengthen its position on the global stage, the region has broken many state-owned monopolies and introduced a new legal system to open up the telecommunications industry to private investors. To facilitate this, regulatory agencies have been set up. In a region as vast as UEMOA, an efficient, reliable and cost-effective telecommunications infrastructure is paramount – especially for the numerous mining and oil and gas businesses in remote regions.  Rapid growth is evident across the UEMOA telecommunications sector.

Fixed telephones
The UEMOA countries are equipped with good quality terrestrial communications infrastructures, which are accessible to a significant section of the population. Some countries such as Benin, Mali, Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso are modernising their fixed telephone networks and alleviating the problem of network saturation by installing fibre optic cables. Niger is also discussing a project, which will lay 1,000km of fibre optic cables from Nigeria to Algeria alongside the Trans-Saharan gas pipeline. Programmes to digitalise telephone networks are underway in the UEMOA, and many states are privatising them.

Mobile telephones
The mobile telephony sector is extremely dynamic in the UEMOA. Although mobile telephone density rates vary across the region, the number of subscribers is growing substantially every year.  In Senegal, the sector has experienced mean annual growth of 70% since 2004. Strong growth in the sector is also evident in Burkina Faso, which saw a 140% increase in the number of mobile telephone users between 1999 and 2004. In Côte d’Ivoire, there are now nearly 2 million mobile phone users. Many UEMOA countries are granting new GSM licenses to operators, to open up the sector.

Internet
The upward trend in Internet users worldwide is also being reflected in the UEMOA. Since most of the region was connected to the worldwide network in 1997, demand for the Internet has experienced strong growth, though distribution varies from country to country. In Senegal, Internet usage has doubled every year since 2003, when ADSL services were introduced, whilst in some of the land-locked sub Saharan countries, internet penetration rates have grown at a slower pace. Many UEMOA countries have introduced laws to open up Internet services and networks to competition, by means of licenses and registrations, which provides a window of opportunity for international companies. •

---

TOP - Cover -

---

Conference topics

 The UEMOA conference will allow delegates to gain extensive knowledge about a wide range of issues surrounding the UEMOA mining, oil and gas and telecommunications sectors, including:

• Mining investment opportunities within UEMOA
• Financing mining projects
• Recent developments in the UEMOA mining sector
• Niger’s mining potential
• Foreign direct investment overview of the UEMOA mining industry
• Presentation of the UEMOA mining codes
• Refining petroleum products in the UEMOA region
• UEMOA oil and gas investments, including the NigAl Project
• UEMOA cooperation for energy developments
• Telecommunications investment opportunities in the UEMOA region
• Legal framework in the telecommunications sector
• Opportunities and challenges for private telecommunications operators
• Evolution of new technologies in the UEMOA region
• Effect of liberalising the UEMOA telecommunications sector
• Regional cooperation and collaboration

---

Who will attend?

• Technical managers in the telecommunications, mining and petroleum sectors
• Investment, central and development banks
• Auditing and consultancy firms
• Fixed line telephone companies
• Mobile telephone companies
• Telephone equipment providers
• Mining exploration companies
• Petroleum exploration and refinery companies
• Hydrocarbon companies
• Key decision makers from regional and international organisations
• Chambers of Commerce
• Investment promotion agencies
• Industrial regulation agencies
• The Government of Niger will also be inviting its counterparts from across the UEMOA region

How to participate

Speaker
Being a speaker at UEMOA Min-Tel allows you to share your wisdom, expertise and experience with a targeted audience of mining and petroleum or telecommunications professionals. It is an excellent way to raise your profile on the international stage.

Sponsor
Sponsorship will enhance you company’s participation at UEMOA Min-Tel. It is the most cost effective, high impact way to increase corporate visibility. Packages are tailored to enable you to reach your target audience.

Delegate
Attending the UEMOA Min-Tel conference as a delegate will enable you to listen to a range of presentations from high profile speakers and find out the latest industry news. The conference also provides fantastic opportunities to network.

Exhibitor
Exhibiting at UEMOA Min-Tel is a great way to reinforce your presence in the market and introduce your company to a targeted audience. Booking a stand will enable you to meet with new and existing clients and promote your products and services to their full advantage.

Visitor
Visitors to the UEMOA Min-Tel showcase can examine products and services on display and ask exhibitors detailed questions about them. The exhibitions is a fantastic place to find new products and test the latest technology. 

• UEMOA Conference & Showcase website.

---

UEMOA Min-Tel 2009

For further information, please contact: 

Ms. Ana Jonic-White
ITE Group plc (London)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7596 5158
Fax: +44 (0)20 7596 5123
Mobile: +44 (0)77 1286 7700
Email: ana.jonic-white@ite-exhibitions.com

Ms. Siham Ammoura
ITE Group plc (London)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7596 5213
Fax: +44 (0)20 7596 5123
Email: siham.ammoura@ite-exhibitions.com

Ms. Gabriela Freckmann
GiMA GmbH & Co. KG (Hamburg)
Tel: +49 (0)40 2 35 24 201
Fax: +49 (0)40 2 35 24 410
Email: freckmann@gima.de

Mr. Toudou Boubacar
Niger Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture, Industry and Crafts
Tel: +227 20 73 51 55
Fax: +227 20 73 46 68
GSM: +227 96 97 29 29
Email: btoudou@yahoo.fr

---