South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa attend a EU-South Africa summit, ahead of the G20 Summit scheduled for November 22-23, in Johannesburg, South Africa, November 20, 2025.
The event took place during a joint appearance by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council President António Costa. South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, formally signed the memorandum of understanding.
President Ramaphosa highlighted the importance of the agreement for his country’s economic development:
“We are signing an unprecedented agreement,” Ramaphosa said at the news conference. “We are no longer going to rely on extracting minerals only. We will want to extract those minerals, have them processed at the point of extraction ... so that South Africa begins to move up the value chain.”
The partnership focuses on minerals essential for clean energy technologies, advanced computing, and other strategic sectors. European leaders emphasized the need for stable and diversified supply chains to support the global shift toward renewable energy.
“We need these inputs to power the clean-energy transition both here and in Europe. So the future of our economy depends on fair and reliable supply chains,” von der Leyen said.
She noted that recent disruptions in energy supplies had underlined the importance of broadening sources of critical raw materials.
The G20 summit in South Africa marks the first time the gathering is being held on the African continent. Leaders described it as an important platform to showcase the continent’s rapidly growing economies and abundant mineral resources.
Both sides expressed shared support for international cooperation. “We agreed to stand together in defence of democracy, in defence of multilateralism, human rights and the rule of law,” Ramaphosa said, a position echoed by the European leaders present.
The new agreement aims to strengthen economic ties between South Africa and the European Union while promoting local processing and value addition in South Africa’s mining sector. It reflects a mutual interest in ensuring sustainable and equitable access to materials vital for future technologies and energy systems.
