Namibia-EU Strategic Partnership on Raw Materials

Country / jurisdiction: European Union · Year: 2022 · Status: In force · Level: International · Type: Voluntary

The Namibia-EU Strategic Partnership aims to ensure the development of a secure and sustainable supply of raw materials, refined materials and renewable hydrogen to support the green and digital transformation of the partners' economies. The partnership will promote local value addition in Namibia by supporting the development of mining and renewable hydrogen value chains. It will support sustainable raw materials value chains and facilitate investment and funding opportunities to modernise the Namibian industries and drive economic and social development.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) contains six main pillars:

Integration, where feasible, of (critical) raw materials and renewable hydrogen value chains, including networking, new business models and promotion and facilitation of trade and investment linkages;

Co-operation to leverage environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria and align with international standards;

Mobilisation of funding for the development of soft and hard infrastructure required for project development and for leveraging private sector funding through cooperation to address trade matters and to improve the investment climate;

Capacity building, training and skills development along raw materials and renewable hydrogen value chains;

Co-operation on research and innovation along the raw materials value chain, including on mineral knowledge and circularity, hydrogen technologies and skills;

Regulatory alignment, particularly on hydrogen definitions, standards and certification.

The MoU commits the two governments to develop, within six months of the signing, an initial operational roadmap for concrete activities for 2023-2024. The MoU mobilises financial and investment instruments, including a €500 million from the European Investment Bank.

Official source: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-11/MoU-Namibia-batteries-hydrogen.pdf