French President Emmanuel Macron, during his participation in the “Africa Forward” summit in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, announced an investment package worth a total of 23 billion euros, with the aim of advancing economic development on the African continent.
Macron explained that these investments would create more than 250,000 direct job opportunities in France and Africa, as French donors would contribute 14 billion euros, while the remaining amounts would come from African investors.
According to French media reports, citing the Elysee Palace, these funds will be directed mainly towards the sectors of energy transportation, digital transformation, and agriculture.
Macron called for directing efforts towards “investment” instead of public aid, which Europe is no longer able to provide to Africa as generously as before.
He stressed, quoting Kenyan President William Ruto, that “this is no longer at all what Africa needs or what it wants to hear,” adding: “We also no longer have the full potential,” in reference to the decline in public development aid in France, as in other Western countries facing crises in their public finances.
