The European Union and Rwanda have signed a deal on critical raw materials exploitation.
The agreement was signed on February 19 by EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen, and Rwanda Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Biruta in Brussels to “strengthen Rwanda’s role in fostering sustainable development and resilient value chains across Africa”.
The deal covers five key areas, which are integration of sustainable raw materials value chains and support for economic diversification; cooperation to achieve sustainable and responsible production and valorisation of critical and strategic raw materials and mobilisation of funding for deployment of infrastructure required for the development of raw material value chains, including through improving the investment climate.
It will also involve research and innovation and sharing of knowledge and technologies related to exploration, extraction, refining, processing, valorisation and recycling of the materials, their substitution, waste management and monitoring of supply risks; and building of capacity to enforce relevant rules, increasing training and skills related to the critical and strategic raw materials value chain.
“The signature of the Memorandum of Understanding between the EU and Rwanda signals both parties’ intention to strengthen their partnership for closer integration of raw materials value chains. This cooperation model will bring the possibility for the partner country to diversify their economy and will be a driver for structural transformation as it will promote added value and integrate better standards in the partner country,” EU said in a statement.
EU defines critical raw materials as raw materials of high economic importance for its bloc, with a high risk of supply disruption due to their concentration of sources and lack of good, affordable substitutes.
Following the signing, a roadmap with concrete actions will be developed in six months to put the strategic partnership into practice, the EU said.
The agreement follows the signing of a provisional agreement in November 2023 on a European critical raw materials act, as demand for raw minerals increases with the massive production of electric vehicles.
A Joint Declaration between Rwanda and the European Investment Bank was signed in December 2023 enabling a strategic alliance to enhance critical raw material exploitation and value chains.
The agreement witnessed by President Paul Kagame and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sought to strengthen technical and financial cooperation to identify critical raw material sector investment.
It was the first critical raw materials agreement between the European Investment Bank, the world’s largest international public bank, and an African partner.
The EU says, Rwanda with its favourable investment climate and rule of law can become a hub for value addition in the mineral sector.
“One gold refinery already exists, while a tantalum refinery will soon be operational. Rwanda also has the only active tin smelting plant in Africa,” EU said in the February 19 statement.
ACCUSATIONS OF PLUNDERING DRC RESOURCES
But while EU says Rwanda is a major player on the world’s tantalum extraction, produces tin, tungsten, gold and niobium, and has potential for lithium and rare earth elements, neighboring DRC accuses it of stealing and exporting its raw materials.
In March 2023, DRC said it was losing almost $1billion a year in minerals that were being illegally smuggled into Rwanda, as it called for international sanctions to be placed on Kigali.
DRC Finance Minister Nicolas Kazadi told FT’s Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne that Rwanda in 2022 exported close to $1 billion worth of gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten, even though the country has few mineral deposits of its own.
“It’s all coming from DRC — that’s obvious, it’s not only allegations, it’s evidence,” Kazadi said.
The DRC government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of sustaining instability in the eastern region of its territory by supporting M23 rebel group to continue plundering its resources, accusations Kigali has refuted.
The Urpilainen-Biruta meeting also came amidst escalating tensions between Rwanda and DRC.
Urpilainen said they had a constructive exchange with Minister Biruta on the regional situation and reiterated “EU’s consistent position and support to the Luanda, Nairobi processes to find a political solution in the Eastern DRC”.
“This will be a major topic of discussions this week when I visit Angola,” she said.
The deal with Rwanda follows others with the DRC and Zambia at the Global Gateway Forum on October 26, 2023, and with Namibia on November 8, 2022.
EU also has such agreements with Argentina, Canada, Chile, Greenland, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
