BY YANET FANTAYE WOGAYEHU – Zambia and Democratic Congo (DRC), among the top African countries with huge mineral resources, are set to develop battery electric vehicle value chain opening special economic zones.
This is indicated by Mr. Antonio Pedro, Acting Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) who opened African economy misters’ meetings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this morning.
“At the meeting of the committee of experts, I pointed to Africa’s central position in driving a clean energy future as the world demands more of its green minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, in the low emissions quest. In line with the Africa Mining Vision, our agenda is to move Africa beyond resource extractivism. Here, we have already started to work with DRC and Zambia, where there is an agreement to develop the battery electric vehicle value chain,” he said.
“This value chain, with the creation of the special economic zone, could unlock a market worth $7.7 trillion by 2025 and $46 trillion by 2050. The Secretary-General has called for a review of the Global Financial Architecture and for a SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion per year in financing for sustainable development,” Antonio said, mentioning that carbon credit markets could bring in a whopping $82 billion for Africa.
The Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development opened today is the fifty-fifth session. Over the past few days experts have met paving the way for today’s meetings of the ministers.