WINDHOEK: President Hage Geingob has reiterated his stance that Namibia will no longer be exporting raw materials, saying the country is dedicated to improving the sustainability of its extractive industry.

Geingob was speaking at the opening of the European Union (EU)-Namibia Business Forum, happening in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday.

The two-day forum is jointly hosted by the European Union and the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), under the theme ‘Mobilising quality investment and value addition for green growth in the EU-Namibia partnership’, with a focus on the Green Hydrogen and Sustainable Critical Raw Materials value chains.

Geingob stressed that the decision to minimise the exportation of raw materials is also aimed at developing local processing, refining and recycling capacity in Namibia.

“This approach has the potential to underpin sustainable, clean, and inclusive economic growth, while also fostering domestic resource mobilisation, economic diversification, and deeper linkages to the broader economy,” Geingob said.

He maintained that Namibia’s economy is linked to the extraction and processing of minerals for export, contributing significantly to the country’s GDP and foreign exchange earnings.

Geingob also noted that Andrada Mining, a lithium and tin mining company, is also attending the forum and is looking to exploit deposits of lithium and associated minerals that he said could be more than 138 million tonnes.

“We also have Broadmind Mining with a maiden inferred resource of 570 million tonnes of light rare earths. I am pleased to learn that the companies referred to earlier are in partnership with their EU counterparts and are willing to go one step further to add value to those minerals in Namibia, be it in the form of making battery precursors or permanent magnets,” he said.

According to Geingob, the European Union recognises renewable hydrogen as a critical ingredient to decarbonise hard to abate sectors, such as heavy industry and transport.

“Therefore, Namibia is ready to partner with the European Union to meet its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. By 2030, the European Union estimates that it will require 20 million tons of clean hydrogen, half of this has been earmarked for imports from trusted jurisdictions, such as Namibia,” Geingob said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency