French President Emmanuel Macron announced €23 billion ($27 billion) in investments at the Africa Forward summit in Kenya on Monday, touting a “partnership of equals” between France and Africa.
Macron stated that €14 billion ($16.4 billion) would come from French companies’ private and public funds, and €9 billion ($10.5 billion) from African firms, targeting energy transition, agriculture, and artificial intelligence. The investments are claimed to create 250,000 jobs in France and Africa.
The two-day summit, France’s first in an English-speaking African country, gathered leaders from over 30 African nations, including Francophone states. “We are not simply here to come and invest on the African continent alongside you – we need great African business leaders to come and invest in France,” Macron told attendees in Nairobi.
The summit is seen as an attempt by the French regime to strengthen ties with English-speaking Africa amid waning influence in its former colonies. Notably, African billionaire Aliko Dangote and executives from TotalEnergies and Orange attended. French shipping group CMA CGM committed €700 million to modernize a terminal at Kenya’s Mombasa port.
Observers note the summit comes as French forces have been forced to withdraw from former colonies, and Macron purportedly aims to renew France’s engagement with Africa, positioning Europe as a more reliable partner than China or the US.
Ahead of the summit, Macron told The Africa Report that colonialism could no longer be blamed for all of Africa’s challenges, calling on African leaders to improve governance. He also claimed the return of looted African artworks had become “unstoppable” after a French law was passed last week.
While many African nations are reducing foreign military presence, Kenya is hosting a growing international military contingent. About 800 French soldiers arrived in Kenya a month before the summit. Kenyan President William Ruto praised the partnership, saying, “We should no longer think in terms of aid and loans, but rather in terms of investment and what Africa has to offer.”
Source: www.aljazeera.com