“Ending Covid-19 everywhere, driving an inclusive, green recovery, and creating opportunities for our youth” was the ambition expressed by the EU at the G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) conference in Berlin on Friday 27 August hosted by outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
This G20 Africa Partnership was launched in Hamburg in July 2017 under the German G20 Presidency with the aim of combating poverty and migration by stimulating private investment in Africa and sustainable growth, especially for women and youth, initially targeting seven countries - Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia (see EUROPE 11826/4).
According to his speech as released to the European press, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, again called for investment in infrastructure and for the extension of the initiative to grant African countries special drawing rights, as requested by the Senegalese President, Macky Sall.
“We are working together to see how we can build confidence so that even more partners can be mobilised to reallocate special drawing rights to those who need them most”, Mr Michel said.
In his view, investment will have to be accompanied by reforms - in Europe to “facilitate, accelerate, reduce technocracies, and reduce bureaucracies” and in Africa “to ensure more legal certainty, more attractiveness for investment, and more stability”.
Speaking at the session on framework conditions for business and investment, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed the need to “return to growth”.
While acknowledging the devastating impact of the Covid-19 crisis, she stressed Africa’s promising assets, such as “ongoing regional integration, growing entrepreneurship, a young population, and limitless natural resources”.
She also stressed the importance of private investment and a public sector that creates a favourable environment for investment and business, as well as sufficient funding for the reforms to be carried out.
As an example of the approaches guiding the present and future partnership, Mrs von der Leyen first mentioned Covid-19 vaccination. “Of course, there needs to be more vaccine sharing”, she said.
Beyond the substantial EU contribution to COVAX, she welcomed the joint initiative to create messenger RNA vaccine manufacturing hubs in Africa as “a typical example of how to move forward quickly” (see EUROPE 12778/8), as well as the initiative for investment in African start-ups.
She also called for greater use of “new and modern financial instruments” such as the guarantees of the EU’s external investment plan. “We have deployed €5 billion in guarantees that have helped us raise €54 billion in investments”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)