Webinar: How trade policies can shape regional renewable energy supply chains and catalyze domestic manufacturing in Africa

Developing domestic renewable energy manufacturing is emerging as a key policy priority in Africa. Alongside energy transition and green growth strategies, it is seen as an opportunity to reduce import dependency, build local industries leveraging existing capacities and resources, as well as maximize job creation along the value chain. To achieve this, a basket of policies is usually necessary, as part of a holistic industrial policy framework, that hinges a long-term strategic vision and addresses both supply- and demand-side incentives, alongside interventions focused on education and training, trade, technology transfer, logistics and complementary infrastructure roll-out. Trade policies are increasingly coming to the fore as one of the fundamental levers for attracting investments in local manufacturing of energy transition solutions, including solar PV, batteries and electric vehicles. African countries also continue to trade with the rest of the world more than among themselves.

This second webinar in the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative (REMI) South-South Virtual Policy Dialogue Series will deep-dive into how trade policies need to be shaped to support the development of the renewable energy manufacturing sector in Africa with a focus on solar PV, battery and electric vehicles. It will convene representatives from government, trade facilitation agencies, thinks tanks and the private sector to discuss actions needed to strengthen the trade policy framework to facilitate the development of renewable energy supply chains in Africa.

Agenda