At the end of a long negotiation marathon, HARMIAD and the Ministry of Land Affairs finally signed a Memorandum of Understanding during a signing ceremony held in Kinshasa on Thursday, November 12, 2020.

Technical and Administrative committees from HARMIAD visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 10-17 November 2020 in order to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Land Affairs as well as to conduct a pre-feasibility study and to determine the pilot zone for the project. The committees consisted of Hasan BULUT (Chairman), Hüsnü KACAR, Memet DURAN, Sinan ALTINIŞIK, Ender SAĞBAŞ, Mustafa ÖZBAKIR, Bilal SİDAL and Professor AKDOĞAN Argun. The ceremony was held with the participation of the Turkish Ambassador and the Commercial Attaché, the Belgian Ambassador, the Swiss Ambassador, The EU Representative, the UN Representative, representatives of various banks, the Deputy President and the Deputy Prime Minister of the DRC as well as six ministers and senior public bureaucrats.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Minister of Land Affairs Mr. SAKOMBI MOLENDO Aimé and the Chairman of HARMIAD Mr. BULUT Hasan, under the flag of the Republic of Turkey and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Turkish Ambassador and Commercial Attaché congratulated, on behalf of Turkey, the HARMIAD family for this success.

This success was achieved with the contributions and support of the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affais, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation, and the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre.

Aiming for the completion of the digitilized cadastration in the country in a short period of time, The Republic of Turkey implemented the Model of “Public-Private cooperation and interoperability” and has been successful in this regard.

Willing to share these experiences with other countries in a spirit of brotherhood and friendship, and to promote cooperation:

• World Cadastre Summit was held in Istanbul in 2015 under the auspices of Minister of Environment and Urbanisation, organised by the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre.
• In 2018, International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) meeting was organised by the Chamber of Survey Engineers in Istanbul.
• The Ministry of Trade has implemented Project HISER (Increasing the Service Sector Competitiveness) which has motivated the “Cadastral Services Export Project”.

Representatives from the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre, the General Directorate of Geographical Information Systems and from various universities personally participated in the workshops for Project HISER.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC on 12 November 2020, was the fruit of the Public-Private Cooperation in Turkey. The General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre guided and motivated our private sector, hosted the Minister of Land Affairs of the DRC and their delegations when they visited Turkey, and showed them Turkey’s competencies in the field of cadastre and surveying that brought success to the project.

The collaboration with other countries under the theme “Unite – Discover – Develop” has been reinforced thanks to the valuable contributions of the Minister of Environment and Urbanisation, the Minister of Trade, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Turkish Ambassador and Commercial Attaché in Kinshasa, General Manager of Free Zones in the Ministry of Commerce and Heads of the related Departments, General Director of Land Registry and Cadastre, Deputy Directors, Heads of the Departments and employees.

The Signature of this agreement will contribute to our country, to the field of survey engineering, and to a stronger spirit of brotherhood between the peoples of the two countries.