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Namibia is making its clearest pitch yet to become a regional hub for green industrialisation, using a State Visit to China to press Chinese investors toward manufacturing and value addition rather than the raw commodity exports that have historically defined the relationship.
Green industrialisation dominated the Namibia-China Business Forum in Shanghai, where more than 300 business leaders from both countries gathered on the sidelines of President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s State Visit to deepen commercial ties. The framing from Namibia’s side was unambiguous: the country wants partnerships built around industrial development, not simple extraction. “We want to move beyond exporting raw materials. Our objective is to build industries that create jobs, develop skills and ensure that more value is added within Namibia,” said Nandi-Ndaitwah, encouraging Chinese companies to invest directly in manufacturing and value addition.
Minister of International Relations and Trade Ambassador Selma Ashipala-Musavyi built the investment case around Namibia’s renewable resource base. “The world is looking for green hydrogen and Namibia is looking at the sun. We have some of the highest levels of solar radiation and strongest winds on the planet,” said Ashipala-Musavyi. She pointed to the flagship Tsau //Khaeb Green Hydrogen Project, already drawing billions of dollars in investment as evidence of a genuine shift toward renewable-powered manufacturing. Her ambitions extend well past exporting electrons, adding, “We aim not only to export energy but to plan, develop and export a new paradigm of clean manufacturing, including green ammonia, sustainable aviation fuel and green steel.”
On critical minerals, Ashipala-Musavyi connected rising global EV demand directly to Namibia’s lithium, copper and rare earth deposits while making clear the government wants processing capacity built domestically rather than raw ore shipped out. “We are moving beyond the ‘extract and ship’ model,” noted Ashipala-Musavyi, encouraging investors to establish processing facilities inside the country rather than treating Namibia purely as a mineral source. She also positioned the Port of Walvis Bay as a strategic gateway well beyond Namibia’s own market size, framing investment in the country as regional-market access rather than a narrow domestic bet.
“When you invest in Namibia, you are not investing in a market of over three million people. You are investing in a market of over 300 million consumers across the SADC region,” said Ashipala-Musavyi. Beyond energy and mining, she flagged infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries, logistics, aviation, education, health, housing and digital commerce as additional investment sectors, alongside efforts to simplify the investment climate through digital visa systems, streamlined land access and reduced regulatory procedures.
China has signalled reciprocal interest. Ahead of the State Visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun described Namibia as China’s “comprehensive strategic cooperative partner,” saying the relationship has produced “fruitful cooperation for mutual benefit” and that Beijing looks forward to using the visit to “carry forward our traditional friendship, deepen political mutual trust, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and elevate the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new level.”
African governments are increasingly competing for the same pool of Chinese renewable energy and manufacturing capital, Namibia’s pitch is notably specific, an explicit push to convert its natural resource base into local industrial capacity rather than simply attracting extraction-focused investment. Whether that ambition succeeds will be measured, as officials themselves note, not by investment commitments alone but by how much of that capital actually builds industries, transfers skills and creates higher-value exports on Namibian soil.
