Playing as Belgium as my first game to keep things as simple as possible, I've now brought the Colonial Penetration of some provinces in the general Congo area up to 35 percent. Noticing that I was unable to increase this further, I found a thread on this forum in which it was stated that at this point you have to wait until the decision to form a protectorate becomes available.
It is now mid-1852. Is there any typical period that you have to wait before the decision becomes available? and is there any way to speed this up?
Meanwhile, is there anything that the player should do while waiting for the decision in order to prepare for the next stage?