European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President of Namibia Hage Geingob signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a strategic partnership between the EU and Namibia at the COP27 in Egypt with respect to 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 the 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.

President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen said, “This is not only a huge step forward for the EU's climate ambitions but also an agreement beneficial to Namibia, a front-runner in the development of renewable hydrogen in Africa. It shows Europe's commitment to work with partner countries on our shared commitments to a greener and more resilient future in line with the Global Gateway Strategy. I would like to thank President Geingob for his commitment and look forward to our cooperation. This partnership is a key step in strengthening relations between the EU and Namibia, based on mutual trust, deepened political dialogue and concrete cooperation projects.”

The partnership contains six main pillars: Integration, where feasible, of raw materials and renewable hydrogen value chains, including networking, new business models and promotion and facilitation of trade and investment linkages; Cooperation 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 projects development and for leveraging private sector funding through cooperation to address trade matters, including inclusiveness, and improving investments on climate action; 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; and Regulatory alignment, standards and certification.

The EU and Namibia have committed to develop an operational Roadmap for 2023-2024, with concrete joint actions agreed within six months of the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding. These actions are to be carried out in close cooperation with relevant industrial and financial stakeholders from the EU Member States and Namibia.

In parallel, today, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Namibia are signing a joint declaration to deepen their cooperation in support of renewable energy, including renewable hydrogen. The EIB and Namibia will work towards the implementation of a loan by EIB Global to the Government of Namibia of up to €500 million. The loan will allow for long term, sustainable projects, and investments.