Africa must negotiate for a common framework in harnessing its critical minerals under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to accelerate the development of the continent, the Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), Dr Fatima Denton, has said.
In line with the African mining vision, which is to make mining the basis for economic development, she said, Africa must have common agenda for the extraction of its critical mineral resources.
They include lithium, cobalt, copper, manganese, which are critical for the world's Energy Transformation.
Speaking at a three-day international conference on minerals to Africa's development, Dr Denton further stressed the need for Africa to lead the discourse on Energy Transition.
She said Africa must move from the export of raw materials to value addition.
The three-day programme, being organised by the Third World Network-Africa (TWNAfrica) and the Southern Africa Resource Watch, is on the theme 'Energy Transition, Africa's Extractive Resources, and the Future of Africa's Development'.
Sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the programme was attended by more than 35 participants across the world, from academia, development organisations and civil society.
Dr Denton stressed the need for Africa to diversify its economy from mineral and fossil to tourism, agriculture and services to create jobs for the teeming youth given the transition from fossil to green and cleaner sources of energy.
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"Africa is in a pole position to lead in the green transition and to reduce energy poverty," she stated.
The Coordinator of TWNAfrica, Dr Yao Graham, said Africa must have a clear strategy and a collective approach in the extraction of its critical minerals.
He said Latin American countries had set clear agenda strategy on its critical minerals, and Chile recently nationalised its critical minerals' wealth.
"Critical minerals, if properly used, can help Africa transition to cleaner sources of energy and provide energy for the structural transformation and industrialisation of Africa," he stated.
Dr Graham said not transitioning to cleaner energy sources to reduce climate change was not an option for Africa, and what was important was to use Africa's minerals wealth for the energy transition process.
