The African Green Industries Summit, scheduled for September in Swakopmund, was officially launched in Windhoek.

The summit expects to gather over 600 delegates, 50 speakers, and 100 youth participants.

Joseph Mukwenda, Interim Head of the Green Hydrogen Programme, highlighted the importance of industrialization to combat Namibia’s high unemployment rate.

“We believe the African Green Industries Summit is timely and necessary. Previous summits focused on green hydrogen, but we are now advancing towards green industrialization. It is not enough to merely export raw materials; we must create local value addition, industrialize our country, and create jobs for Namibians,” Mukwenda stated.

Deputy Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy, Gaudentia Kröhne, noted that green hydrogen could create approximately 30,000 jobs by 2030 as part of Namibia’s Sixth National Development Plan (NDP6).

“Namibia’s ambition is to build an industrialized system, moving from importing industrial capacity to developing it locally. NDP6 targets sustainable economic growth through diversification, industrialization, manufacturing expansion, infrastructure development, and employment creation. The plan aims to increase the secondary industry’s contribution to 25% of GDP and manufacturing to 18%,” Kröhne explained.