Africa-Press – Namibia. Staff Reporter
IN a first-time-ever ministerial visit to Namibia, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Nishimura Yasutoshi, has expressed high hopes for bolstering Namibia’s industrialisation process by focusing on value-addition to rare-earth minerals and collaboration on the Green Hydrogen Project.
During the one-day working visit, Yasutoshi and his delegation signed legally binding agreements with the Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo, the Minister of Industrialisation and Trade, Lucia Iipumbu, as well as the Director-General of the National Planning Commission, Obeth Kandjoze.
Yasutoshi, at the event, explained that Japan does not only want to collaborate in mining development in Namibia, but also plans to cooperate with the Ministry of Mines and Energy to conduct a survey on Namibia’s rare earth metals supply chain. This survey will lead to the creation of the country’s rare earth industry master plan. According to Yasutoshi, this will eventually establish Namibia’s rare earth industry.
Furthermore, the Japanese minister expressed the wish to exchange information and conduct technology cooperation with Namibia on a step-by-step basis to formulate mutually beneficial projects.
Yasutoshi noted that when the Japanese company participates in mining development in Namibia, the Japanese government is ready to provide strong support with a budget of N$1.5 million. “Japan does not only want to cooperate in mining but also in human resource development, infrastructure development, and technical cooperation, through Public-Private Partnerships in the mid-to-long term,” Yasutoshi said.
Also speaking at the occasion, Namibian Minister of Mines, Tom Alweendo, said that Yasutoshi’s visit is a testimony to Namibia’s outreach to attract investors.
“In the area of the energy sector and the green hydrogen strategy, Japan is a key global partner that can make our strategy work even better. Not only in terms of being a potential off-taker of green hydrogen and ammonia but also to be a part of the whole value chain of the synthetic fuels strategy we have. This can include embracing Japanese technology and financing. Japan is also interested in critical raw materials which are key to sustaining the energy transition. Namibia has some of those metals and minerals. Their interest is to get access to those minerals, and our interest is to make sure that we make use of those minerals to industrialise our economy and not continue to export them in raw form, but actually process them. This will be a mutually beneficial relationship,” Alweendo concluded.
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