President Ursula von der Leyen, together with President António Costa, attended the EU-South Africa Summit in Cape Town on 13 March, the first one since 2018.
The European Union(EU) said in a statement, the Summit is an opportunity to reaffirm Europe’s commitment to its unique partnership with South Africa, strengthen our strategic ties, and tackle global challenges together. It is also a key moment to support South Africa’s G20 presidency and prepare for the EU-African Union Summit later this year.
Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President, said “the geopolitical landscape is shifting, making strong partnerships more important than ever. I’m going to Cape Town with one goal: to strengthen our unique relationship with South Africa across the board – taking our cooperation on trade, critical raw materials and clean energy to the next level, and bringing new investment under Global Gateway. My message: Europe values its partnership with South Africa, just as I value my friendship with President Ramaphosa. South Africa can count on Europe. And I know Europe can count on South Africa.”
The EU and South Africa discussed ways of strengthening trade and investment ties, based on shared interests in clean technology and sustainable supply chains.
A Global Gateway Investment Package is a product of the discussions, anchored in three building blocks that align with the shared priorities of South Africa and the EU:
Supporting the Just Energy Transition with investments in green hydrogen projects, local processing and refining of critical minerals, development of local workforce skills and jobs for green economy.
In addition the Gateway allows for strengthening connectivity infrastructure like transport corridors, including railways and ports (development of the strategic corridor North-South), clean logistics like grid-scale energy storage or public transport decarbonisation, and digitalisation by expanding affordable fibre networks and 5G infrastructure.
Picture: The European Union