Agenda of the 8th EU-South Africa summit in Cape Town, 13 March 2025

The eighth summit between the leaders of the EU and South Africa will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, on 13 March.

The President of the European Council, António Costa, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, will represent the EU. South Africa will be represented by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The summit is an opportunity to intensify the EU’s partnership with South Africa, which is a strategic partner for the EU in a challenging context of rising populism and geopolitical instability.

The leaders will discuss the EU-South Africa bilateral relations, focusing on how to further cooperation on:

• trade and investment
• the green and digital transitions
• security and defence
• energy
• research and development
• critical raw materials
• skills and education

They are also expected to tackle the most pressing global and regional issues, including Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, the current escalation of violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the situation in Sudan and South Sudan.

The leaders are expected to issue a joint statement at the end of the summit.

EU-South Africa relations

The EU-South Africa strategic partnership has been in place since 2007. High-level meetings are held regularly, including over 20 different sectoral dialogues, an annual human rights dialogue, ministerial political dialogues and the joint cooperation council (JCC). 

The 16th session of the EU-South Africa JCC was held in Brussels on 15 January 2025 and the 16th the ministerial political dialogue held in Cape Town on 19 February were important steps in the preparations for the upcoming eighth EU-South Africa summit.

The ministerial meeting was an important opportunity to discuss cooperation on human rights, sustainable development, and climate change, with a focus on South Africa’s G20 presidency priorities.

In view of the summit, both parties highlighted the importance of a just energy transition, cooperation on critical raw materials, and enhancing economic security, as well as regulatory cooperation and investment facilitation.

The European Union and South Africa (EEAS) 

Trade

South Africa is the EU’s largest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa, with €49 billion worth of trade in goods in 2023. The EU is South Africa’s top source of foreign direct investment, accounting for 53.7% in 2022.

Under the multiannual indicative programme 2021-2027 for South Africa, the EU allocated €129 million in grant funding to its partnership with the country for 2021-2024.

In June 2016, the EU and South Africa, along with Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini, signed the Southern African economic partnership agreement (SADC EPA), which governs trade in goods between the two regions.

Through the SADC EPA, the EU has either completely or partially eliminated customs duties on 98.7% of imports from South Africa. The agreement helps promote both bilateral and regional trade, opening up new opportunities to achieve the goals of the EU-South Africa strategic partnership.