France has announced a $27 billion (€23 billion) investment initiative focused on clean energy, artificial intelligence, digital technology, agriculture and the maritime economy across Africa.
The announcement was made by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi.
The summit, organised to strengthen economic and political ties between France and African nations, brought together dozens of African heads of state and top business leaders, including Bola Tinubu and Aliko Dangote.
Macron said €14 billion of the investment package would come from French public and private institutions, while €9 billion would be contributed by African investors.
According to the French president, the initiative is expected to create about 250,000 direct jobs across Africa and France.
“We are not simply here to come and invest on the African continent alongside you — we need the great African business leaders to come and invest in France,” Macron said during his address at Nairobi’s convention centre.
“And that too is what underpins this relationship, now entirely free of hang-ups.”
The two-day summit marks the first France-Africa gathering organised in an English-speaking African country.
Ahead of the event, Macron told AFP that Africa’s post-independence leadership also bore responsibility for the continent’s development challenges, saying colonialism could no longer be blamed for every issue facing African nations.
“We must not exonerate from all responsibility the seven decades that followed independence,” he said, while urging African governments to improve governance.
Macron also described the return of African artworks taken during the colonial era as “unstoppable”.
The remarks followed the passage of a new law in the French parliament aimed at facilitating the return of looted African cultural artefacts.
France has been seeking to rebuild its influence across Africa after military and political setbacks in several former colonies in the Sahel and West Africa.
Macron also used the summit to promote closer Europe-Africa cooperation in technology and trade, positioning Europe as an alternative partner to both the United States and China.
“A lot of solutions are made in the US or made in China,” he said during a discussion on technology and artificial intelligence.
“I think we have a common fight … which is to build our strategic autonomy for Europe and Africa. And if we build it together, we will be much stronger.”
Meanwhile, William Ruto is expected to attend the upcoming G7 Summit in France next month, where he plans to advocate for improved access to credit for African countries.
