Namibia and Japan yesterday entered into agreements with an eye towards building a Namibian supply chain capable of extracting, refining and transporting critical minerals.

This after the Japanese government expressed its preparedness to play a significant role in Namibia, with among others a particular focus on the extractive industry.

The deals were sealed at a high-level event at State House.

In attendance was Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry.

“Namibia has much-needed minerals. We want to use all opportunities to enhance collaboration with the mining sector of Namibia to advance the value chain that will take care of future Namibian generations,” said Nishimura, who is visiting Africa, specifically Namibia, Angola and Madagascar for collaboration in the energy space.

The minister noted that Japan does not want to focus only on the mining sector, but on human and infrastructure development as well as technical cooperation through a public-private partnership.

Japan, he added, is prepared to deepen collaboration in green hydrogen and ammonia, where the potential is large.

The Japanese government showed interest to work with the three African nations to develop supply chains for cobalt and other minerals critical in making batteries for electric vehicles.

Japan is expected to work with Epangelo, Namibia’s state-owned mining company, with the intention of reinforcing the supply chain for rare earth and other minerals.

On behalf of Namibia, presidential affairs minister Christine //Hoebes said it is ready to partner with Japan with a view to strengthen its expertise in green hydrogen development.

Addressing the media at State House shortly after putting pen to paper, trade minister Lucia Iipumbu stated that the two delegations agreed to work on trade and investment agreements, and also to arrange inbound and outbound trade missions to strengthen economic ties between the two countries.

“We engaged in discussions to look at sectors such as the economy, energy, healthcare, industrialisation and production of machineries, automotive industries, and so many others that we are going to factor into the agreement that we envisage to sign, which will culminate in a joint trade commission to strengthen the already-existing bilateral relations,” she stated.

Numbers

Looking at trade statistics, Namibia imports goods and services from Japan to the value of about N$1.4 billion, while exporting only N$90 million worth of goods and services. 

This disparity, Iipumbu noted, must change.  

At the same occasion, mines minister Tom Alweendo said the visit is a testimony of the country’s outreach to get investors to come to Namibia.

“When it comes to the green hydrogen strategy we have, Japan is a key global partner which can make our strategy even work better, not only in terms of becoming a potential off-taker, but equally just to be part of the whole value chain of the synthetic strategy,” he noted.

The former Bank of Namibia governor further said Japan is interested in the critical raw materials that are important to sustain the energy transition.

Namibia’s interest, he hastened to say, is to ensure that minerals industrialise the local economy, and not to continue exporting them in raw form.

The aim is to actually process them and use them as inputs into the manufactured goods which will then sell to the national markets, Alweendo observed.

The pact

Standing head and shoulders above the agreements signed yesterday was the pact between Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Hyphen) and ITOCHU Corporation.

The agreement seeks to explore areas for potential collaboration between them to drive forward sub-Saharan Africa’s largest, and only, fully vertically-integrated green hydrogen project.

ITOCHU is one of Japan’s largest general trading and investment companies. 

The deal was inked by Shinya Ishizuka, ITOCHU’s CEO of Africa Bloc, and Marco Raffinetti, Hyphen’s CEO.

Raffinetti said: “Hyphen expects Japan to emerge as one of the key demand centres for green ammonia globally, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to explore areas for collaboration with ITOCHU to unlock supply into this critical market. I firmly believe that Namibia has the potential to become a long-term strategic partner to Japan for the supply of green hydrogen, well beyond the scale of Hyphen’s project, given Namibia’s unique competitive advantages in green hydrogen production”.

Ishizuka added that ITOCHU will create a wide range of ammonia value chains in various existing industrial applications, as well as for future energy use. 

The company will likewise support its clients and industries in achieving low carbonisation goals focusing on Japan, Asia and its surrounding markets. 

- mndjavera@nepc.com.na