Namibia, France Academic Cooperation to Bolster Capacity Building for the Frontier Market

Namibia, France Academic Cooperation to Bolster Capacity Building for the Frontier Market

Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy met with French tertiary institution Sciences Po on the sidelines of the Invest in African Energy Forum in Paris (https://apo-opa.info/45I6tWo) this week to discuss efforts to advance academic cooperation across the energy sector. Present during the meeting were Hon. Tom Alweendo, Minister of Mines and Energy, Namibia and H.E. Albertus Aochamub, Namibia’s Ambassador to France, Spain, Italy and Portugal; Sciences Po representatives including Vanessa Scherrer, Vice Minister for International Affairs, Professor Giacomo Luciani; and Mark Maloney, Executive Director and Vice Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs; as well as Carlos Bellorin, Associate Director IHS Markit and NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.

During the meeting, both parties discussed the role academic inclusion, opportunity and training will play in driving Namibia’s energy agenda. Both the Ministry and Sciences Po outlined the need to advance capacity building in Namibia, with the organizations discussing opportunities for establishing a formal partnership to enable student exchange as well as high level workforce training and on-the-ground experience.

With Namibia’s energy sector seeing a surge of development following the discovery of three major oil and gas finds in 2022 and 2023 by Shell, Qatar Energy and TotalEnergies, as