Nearly N$2 billion in European Union funding has already been committed to Namibia under the Strategic Partnership on Green Hydrogen and Critical Raw Materials — a programme designed to place the country at the centre of new clean-energy value chains.
The support has gone into projects now familiar across Namibia’s emerging hydrogen landscape: the Daures Green Hydrogen Village, HyIron Oshivela, Cleanergy’s hydrogen refuelling station, and preparatory work for Hyphen Hydrogen Energy.
Funding has also backed policy development, scholarships, and energy-system strengthening through EU GET.transform, while new initiatives — including port expansion at Lüderitz and Walvis Bay — are now moving through planning channels.
The European Investment Bank has indicated it is ready to provide long-term infrastructure finance to accelerate this work.
Namibia’s progress forms part of a broader continental effort supported through the EU’s Global Gateway, which has so far mobilised €120 billion (≈N$2.4 trillion) for Africa.
The European Commission expects this to exceed €150 billion (≈N$3 trillion) by 2027, driven by investments in renewable energy, transport corridors, digital connectivity, health systems, and resource development.
These commitments were underscored in Luanda, Angola, where African and European leaders met for the 7th AU–EU Summit from 24 to 25 November 2025 — a gathering that marked 25 years since their first high-level dialogue in Cairo.
The summit reaffirmed cooperation on peace, trade and industrialisation, and reflected growing confidence in joint development models shaped by green energy and critical minerals.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa attended, framing Global Gateway as the mechanism through which Africa-Europe economic links are being rewritten.
Digital transformation was central to the discussions, supported by €122 million (≈N$2.44 billion) in new EU financing channelled through Finnfund Global Connect, with €32 million (≈N$640 million) dedicated to subsea cables, fibre networks, data-centre build-out and mobile-payment platforms across the continent.
Security cooperation also remains at the core of the partnership, with continued support for AU-led mediation in the Great Lakes region, backing for peace operations in Somalia, and agreements to strengthen collaboration on counter-terrorism, organised crime, maritime security, cybersecurity and space governance.
The economic foundation beneath this relationship is substantial.
Over the past decade, EU–Africa trade has grown by 30%, and European investment stock on the continent has increased 13%.
Today, 44 African countries benefit from duty-free market access, and 97% of African exports enter the EU tariff-free. Namibia enjoys duty- and quota-free access under the SADC–EU Economic Partnership Agreement.
Looking ahead, the two sides will return to Windhoek in early 2026 for the EU–Namibia Business Forum, which will focus on investment, local beneficiation and scaling the hydrogen-minerals partnership.
With 1.9 billion people represented between the AU and EU, the Luanda summit — held under the theme Promoting Peace and Prosperity through Effective Multilateralism — signalled that the Namibia-EU clean-energy corridor is no longer emerging. It is material, funded, and expanding.
