South Africa And EU Hold First Clean Trade & Investment Partnership Dialogue
South Africa and the European Union have held the first business-to-government dialogue under the Clean Trade and Investment Partnership (CTIP), aimed at gathering industry input to accelerate bilateral trade and investment in clean supply chains.
The partnership was endorsed on November 20, 2025, by Ursula von der Leyen and Cyril Ramaphosa. It seeks to strengthen cooperation between governments and industries to improve the trade and investment environment and unlock both public and private funding, including through the EU’s Global Gateway programme.
Held alongside the Africa Energy Indaba, the dialogue brought together more than 150 representatives from industry, financial institutions and policymakers.
Opening the session, Alexandra Abrahams highlighted the strategic significance of the initiative, noting that the EU remains one of South Africa’s largest trading partners, with bilateral trade increasing by 56 per cent since 2016.
Officials from the European Commission also emphasised major investment opportunities in South Africa’s clean energy transition, including plans to build around 14,500 kilometres of new electricity transmission lines over the next decade.
Industry participants used the forum to outline regulatory, financing and risk-mitigation measures needed to accelerate investment in clean supply chains. The recommendations will feed into upcoming government-to-government discussions under the CTIP framework later this year.
