That was one of the key questions discussed at this year's Western Cape multi-party Seasonal School for Councillors under the theme "Economic Governance and Local Economic Development: The Strategic Role of Municipal Councillors in Advancing Developmental Local Government"

"Strategic Alliances: How critical raw materials are reshaping European-African relations" - We co-hosted this event with our partners in the collaboration on "The Future of EU-Africa Relations": the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Megatrends Afrika and the Institute for Security Studies.

This is the topic of the second Spotlight article in our cooperation on the Future of EU-Africa Relations. We are co-publishing the article together with our partners in the collaboration project, Megatrends Afrika, the Federation of German Industries and the African Futures and Innovation Program at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria.

Geopolitical tensions, concentrated processing capacities, and supply chain risks are reshaping global access to raw materials, while African countries seek greater domestic value addition and industrial benefits from their resources. These shifting dynamics are redefining European-African relations, with both sides pursuing differing but potentially complementary interests. The event will explore how these interests can be aligned and what conditions are necessary to build resilient, mutually beneficial partnerships in the raw materials sector.

Check out our Newsletter: The past few months have been marked by high-level political engagements, strengthened bilateral cooperation, and research initiatives that continue to deepen the strategic partnership between South Africa and Germany.