Verónica Castro-AllendeA Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) has been signed by Rwanda and the European Union to work together to create value chains for sustainable raw materials.
The MoU, which was ratified by Vincent Biruta, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Urpilainen, the EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, will aid in ensuring strong and sustainable value chains for raw materials for the European Union and strengthen Rwandas ‘ position in the sustainable development of Africa.
The agreement will help the EU secure the crucial raw materials needed to create clean technologies and achieve its goals for clean energy.
The MoU comes after new agreements between the EU and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Namibia, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Greenland, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.
The signing, according to Urpilainen, “emphasizes Rwanda’s commitment to realizing the full potential of our mining sector while assisting in the supply of essential minerals needed to transition towards a greener, more responsible world economy.”
This agreement reaffirms Rwanda as a trustworthy partner in global trade and further ensures the quality and traceability of our organic materials. Rwanda values its relationship with the EU and anticipates enhancing our expanding cooperation.
Resources for Rwanda’s organic materials
Rwanda’s economy is heavily reliant on its mineral value chains because it dominates the world market for anodized extraction.
Tin, tungsten, gold, and niobium are also extracted in Rwanda, along with tungsten. Lithium and rare earth elements have promising futures.
Rwanda is poised to become a key hub for value addition within the mineral sector thanks to its favorable investment environment and adherence to the law.
Importantly, plans are being made to run a anodized refinery in addition to the country’s current gold refiner. Rwanda also has Africa’s only energetic tin smelting facility, which emphasizes its significance in the mineral processing landscape of the area.
Rwanda is a significant supplier of tantalum, tin ,tungsten, gold, and niobium and has the potential for lithium and rare earth elements, according to Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for Internal Market.
We hope to create a resilient and long-lasting vital raw material value chain that covers extraction, refining, processing, recycling, and substitution through this mutually beneficial partnership.
The core of the EU-Rwai important raw materials partnership is transparency, traceability, and investment.
Enhancing Sustainable Development: Rwanda-EU Memorandum of Understanding on Natural Materials Value Chain
The MoU establishes near ties between Rwanda and the EU in five crucial areas.
It places a strong emphasis on ensuring the efficient operation and sustainability of these value chains as it first emphasizes the integration of lasting raw materials and support for financial diversification.
Second, the MoU describes collaboration to produce crucial and strategic organic materials in a way that is both sustainable and dependable. This entails putting more effort into traceability and due diligence into practice, working together to stop the illegal trade in natural materials, and adhering to global ESG standards.
Finally, the parties decide to raise money to set up the infrastructure required for the creation of value chains made of natural materials. This includes initiatives to enhance the environment for investing in order to draw in needed funds.
The MoU also emphasizes the value of research and innovation, as well as the exchange of information and tools pertaining to green exploration, extraction, refining, processing, valorisation, and recycling of crucial and strategic natural materials. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for research into supply risk monitoring, waste management, and material substitution.
The MoU also emphasizes the need for more training and skills related to the crucial and corporate value chain of organic materials as it focuses on developing the capacity to enforce pertinent rules. This entails improving the skills of the regulatory bodies and staff in charge of managing these procedures.
