Finland and Namibia have partnered to strengthen the local circular economy, focusing on resource efficiency and sustainable growth across the mining, energy and agricultural sectors.
Sakarias Rantala says Finland can help Namibia in providing internationally recognised experience in research – driven innovation, public cooperation and an enabling regulatory framework.
“Together, two countries offer complementary insights into strengthening resource efficiency, improving waste management and enhancing climate resilience,” he says.
Rantala said this at a one-day circular economy dialogue which the Finnish embassy hosted in partnership with the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) in Windhoek on Wednesday last week.
Rodney Sikopo, the deputy director of the Ministry of International Relations and Trade’s bilateral department, says the circular economy approach is becoming increasingly important for Namibia across sectors such as mining, agriculture and energy.
He says the dialogue has contributed to Namibia’s national objectives in sustainable industrialisation, green growth and climate resilience by fostering practical and collaborative circular economy solutions relevant to the country’s development priorities.
It brought together policymakers, private sector representatives, researchers, civil society and community actors to explore practical circular economy solutions for Namibia’s development.
Finnish ambassador to Namibia Katja Kalamaki says with the circular economy dialogue Namibia has become the first African country to host such an event under the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF), a larger annual event organised by the Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra).
The WCEF gathers more than 2 000 global experts to present leading circular economy solutions, and this year’s forum will be held in India.
The director of the southern Africa unit in Finland’s ministry of foreign affairs, Jukka Pajarinen, has emphasised the importance of collaboration.
“The circular economy is not something that any single actor can build alone. It requires cooperation across sectors, across value chains and across borders,” he says.
Finland, as the global leader in embracing the circular economy concept, has in recent years been helping Namibia to come up with its circular economy model.
Thus far, two Finnish Universities – the University of Tampere and the Tampere University of Applied Sciences – have collaborated with Nust on a capacity building project, which focuses on how to come up with circular economy models in Namibia.
The project was aimed at strengthening circular economy expertise and mindset among local stakeholders – with a particular emphasis on bio-based and recycling-based materials.
Its objectives included creating a roadmap for circular economy expertise, support skills development, developing an ecosystem of local actors and supporting a feasibility study on bio-fuels for the Finnish company Meriaura.
With the support from the Finnish embassy in Namibia, the three universities organised a series of circular economy workshops.
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