The European Union is finalizing partnerships with the DRC and Zambia to boost local industries.
The EU is aiming to diversify suppliers of key resources and to counter China’s massive infrastructure investments in regions including Africa. .
A planned memorandum of understanding will signal to both governments and the private sector the EU’s backing for developing local value chains given that a big part of the processing of critical materials, including lithium or cobalt, currently takes place in China, people familiar with the matter said.The EU is aiming to diversify suppliers of key resources and to counter China’s massive infrastructure investments in regions including Africa.
“The EU wishes for a partnership for strategic primary materials, which the DRC accepted,” Wameso said in a text message. A Zambian official did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Congo is the world’s largest cobalt producer, and it vies with Peru as the second-largest producer of copper, thanks largely to a surge in Chinese investment in recent years. Zambia is also a key copper producer, and western governments have been seeking to strike alliances with both countries to challenge China’s dominance in critical minerals supply chains.
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