President von der Leyen in South Africa: Launches talks on a new trade and investment deal, unveils €4.7 billion Global Gateway package

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President António Costa have been at the EU-South Africa Summit in Cape Town to strengthen Europe's strategic partnership with the country.

During the Summit, Europe and South Africa agreed to start talks on a new generation of trade deals — a Clean Trade and Investment Partnership.

South Africa will be the first country to sign such an agreement with the EU. It will focus on investment, the clean energy transition, skills, and technology, and on developing strategic industries along the entire supply chains – thus creating good jobs in Africa. The leaders also agreed to extend their cooperation to critical raw materials.

To kick-start this new chapter in EU-South Africa relations, President von der Leyen announced a Global Gateway Investment Package worth €4.7 billion.

The biggest bulk of the package – €4.4bn – will be invested in projects supporting a clean and just energy transition in the country.

This presents a significant pledge in the context of the Scaling up Renewables in Africa campaign, launched by President von der Leyen and President Ramaphosa in the margins of the G20 Summit in Rio. Partnering with Global Citizen and backed by the International Energy Agency, the campaign will culminate with a major pledging event in the margins of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg.

The Global Gateway package also focuses on connectivity infrastructure – both physical and digital– and on boosting the local pharmaceutical industry.

You can follow the press conference with President von der Leyen on EBS. Her press statement will be available here.

A joint declaration will be published here.

For more information

• Opening statement by President von der Leyen at the plenary meeting
• Factsheet on EU-South Africa Global Gateway Investment Package
• Factsheet on EU-South Africa relations

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