Roundtable

Local Value Chain Creation and Due Diligence for Responsible Materials Sourcing

In collaboration with RES4Africa Foundation 

• 16.30 to 18.00 PM | 13 October 2025

Context

Europe’s growing demand for raw materials is creating a strategic opportunity to build stronger and more balanced partnerships with African sourcing countries. The question is no longer only how to secure access to raw materials, but how to structure investment partnerships that also generate local economic value, industrial capacity, jobs, and skills in Africa. 

These partnerships are also key for downstream companies to act in a genuine way on their due diligence requirements. Responsibility should be seen not only as a compliance requirement but as an engagement and investment strategy. When well designed, it can support investment readiness, supplier upgrading, stronger partnerships, and more competitive value chains for both Africa and Europe. 

Using the Lobito Corridor as a practical reference point, this session will explore how companies,  governments, investors, and NGOs can work together to create investable, resilient, and mutually beneficial material value chains. It will examine what is needed to move beyond extraction towards local processing and infrastructure development. Long-term industrial cooperation that provides opportunities for the entire value chain is the name of the game. 

Recent European debates on materials have increasingly focused on competitiveness, supply security, and industrial resilience. At the same time, African countries are seeking partnerships that go beyond extraction and contribute to local value addition, infrastructure development, skills enhancement, and broader economic transformation. This creates a strong foundation for a more strategic model of Africa-Europe cooperation, a model that will also provide new market opportunities for downstream companies.