EU seals €4m Namibia lithium deal

Summit success
EU and Namibia extend green roadmap to 2030 as Commissioner unveils lithium investment
Ogone Tlhage
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The European Union has announced a €4 million (N$78 million) investment targeting lithium extraction at the Andrada Uis Mine in Namibia, as EU Commissioner Jessika Roswall opened the second Namibia-EU Business Forum in Windhoek on Tuesday.


Roswall, who serves as EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, made the announcement in a keynote address at the Country Club in Windhoek on 12 May 2026, delivering what she described as a first concrete step towards transforming the EU-Namibia strategic partnership from intent into measurable economic outcomes.


The project, developed in partnership with the Geological Survey of Finland and the Andrada Uis Mine, is designed to unlock lithium at commercially viable cost and grade, addressing what the Commissioner described as one of the most critical bottlenecks in the global battery supply chain.


"By bringing Finnish geological excellence to Namibian soil, we are not just developing a mine," Roswall said. "We are accompanying Namibia on its path to become a central actor in global battery value chains."


She also announced that additional agreements would be signed on Wednesday with the ministry of industries, mines and energy, the Lüderitz Town Council and the Namibia Standards Institute.

Roadmap extended to 2030


Roswall used the address to formally confirm that the EU and the Government of Namibia had agreed to extend their Strategic Partnership Roadmap for a further five years to 2030, building on the framework first launched by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the late President Hage Geingob in 2023.


The extended roadmap, she said, would deepen co-operation on renewable hydrogen and critical raw materials value chains, backed by European investment, technology and market access.

She called on both parties to move decisively beyond feasibility studies and pilot projects, setting out a clear standard against which the partnership would be measured. "That means translating our strategic alignment into concrete economic outcomes: factories, jobs, skills and revenues that reach Namibian communities," she said.


Geopolitical context


Roswall framed the partnership against a backdrop of global instability, citing geopolitical conflict, trade disputes, resource scarcity and accelerating climate change as threats to business competitiveness, economic resilience and the broader green transition.

Against that backdrop, she said close collaboration built on trust and equality represented the surest path to a prosperous and sustainable future.

She also drew attention to the African Union's designation of 2026 as the Year of Water Sustainability, noting that water resilience sat at the heart of her mandate and could only be achieved through collective action.


Broader economic opportunity


Beyond green hydrogen and critical raw materials, Roswall pointed to several sectors where she said Namibia's economic potential remained underleveraged.

In automotive components, she said Namibia had an opportunity to position itself within global manufacturing supply chains. In agribusiness, she said Namibia's competitive advantages in livestock, horticulture and food processing were well established but had not yet been fully translated into European market access.

She also highlighted the creative industries as a sector too often overlooked, arguing that Namibia's cultural wealth and young population gave it the foundations to compete and export globally.

"For decades, Africa exported raw materials and imported finished goods," Roswall said. "Thanks to projects like this one, that era is coming to an end."


Circular economy


Roswall said a healthy environment and a competitive circular economy were central to the EU-Namibia partnership, arguing that the circular economy had moved from being an environmental consideration to an urgent economic necessity. She said it could deliver economic security alongside environmental care for both parties.


"The EU-Namibia partnership has never been stronger. Let's use this momentum to go further, and to deliver concrete benefits to our citizens, economies and environment."