SA gets €4.7bn investment package from EU

The European Union (EU) has ramped up its diplomatic and trade ties with South Africa (SA) by announcing an investment package of R94bn (€4.7bn) during a summit last week as both navigate the Trump administration’s confrontational approach to foreign policy. A Business Day report says the investment package covers areas of mutual interest such as critical raw mineral processing, green hydrogen, renewable energy, transport and digital infrastructure, local vaccine and pharmaceutical production and resources for skills development. ‘This partnership is expected, for example, to deliver short-and long-term solutions to enable Sasol to export sustainable fuel, especially aviation fuel, to the EU,’ President Cyril Ramaphosa told a media briefing after the summit. The EU is the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in SA, accounting for 47% of the country’s FDI. ‘It includes funding for the clean energy transition, but also funding to boost vaccine manufacturing,’ European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said during the joint summit in Cape Town. ‘SA wants to protect the health of its people. We, Europeans, want to diversify some of our most critical supply chains, and we know that viruses know no borders,’ Von der Leyen said. ‘That is what I call the true mutual interest. Secondly, today, we’re launching negotiations on the first ever trade and investment partnership. The rationale is simple. The SA economy is growing in size and complexity and you have the ambition to create more added value here in the country,’ she said. President of the European Council António Costa described SA and the EU as ‘strategic allies’ while emphasising the commitment to peace, security and sustainable development. ‘We appreciate SA’s leadership both in the region and the globe,’ he said.

Full Business Day report