Energy Minister’s Visit to Belgium: Meetings With the European Union and the Director of Antwerp – Bruges Port
Mr. Abdesselam Ould Mohamed Saleh, the Minister of Oil, Mines, and Energy, held talks with senior EU officials and actors in the field of energy and ports.
The first meeting took place with Mr. Diederik Samsum, the President of the European Union in Brussels, and his team, and discussed the best ways and means to accelerate European investments to develop a low-risk market for liquefied natural gas and the development of renewable energies and green hydrogen.
During the meeting, the senior European official indicated that Mauritania is nowell-placed to play a pionnering role in the upcoming years.
He added that the EU’s commitment to reducing the cost of capital is, in fact, a priority in relations with businesses and donor institutions such as the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, and oil and gas companies that are not yet sufficiently engaged, as he put it.
He said the synergy between green hydrogen and metals will generate significant revenue in the coming decades. At the end of the meeting, the European official invited the Mauritanian side to sign a memorandum of understanding which will serve as a framework for cooperation.
During this visit to Belgium, the Oil Minister met with Mr. Matthew Baldwin, the Director General of Energy of the EU Commission (ENER), and his deputy, accompanied by a management team. The meeting focused on the prospects for cooperation in the short, medium, and long term.
Following a presentation by the Minister on the vision, strategy, and projects, Baldwin highlighted the importance and the need to diversify the sources of sustainable energy supply to the European Union, stressing that Africa, and Mauritania in particular, because of its potential, is becoming a key element for the supply of gas and decarbonated green gas and hydrogen (in the medium and long term).
He recalled that the energy platform initiative was launched to reduce the risks of energy supply to Europe, financing being one of the main challenges for Africa in particular, stressing that this platform aims to secure supply of liquefied natural gas to Europe, and to form a task force to replace Russian gas with other supplies and establish joint ventures with producers.
The meeting discussed the opportunities for gas supply to the European Union from the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) and it was agreed to continue discussions for the next steps of the GTA and the Birallah gas project.
Regarding green hydrogen, the energy director noted that the European Union would need 20 tons of hydrogen in the medium term, of which 10 tons will be supplied from outside the union, noting that ongoing projects in Mauritania are given special attention, and the production of green steel is envisaged (including intermediate processes, direct production of mixed pig iron, and pellets) are priority areas of cooperation.
The two parties discussed signing a memorandum of understanding to identify these issues, which will be discussed by next November and if this is not possible, a joint statement can be issued.
On the second day of the visit, Mr. Ould Mohamed Saleh met Mr. Mario Levins, the Director of the Port of Antwerp – Bruges, and his team, where they discussed the port infrastructure needs in Mauritania and in related projects, including oil, gas, and hydrogen.
During the meeting, an important presentation was made on the intervention capacities of the port of Antwerp, Belgium, which is currently developing projects in the ports of several countries, including Namibia, Oman, Ivory Coast, and Angola.
It was also agreed during the meeting to invite a visit to Mauritania in the near future to identify joint projects in light of the results of the studies being carried out by the World Bank to assess the needs in the infrastructure and the deep water port project in Nouadhibou.