This announcement is part of the Global Gateway initiative, which aims to mobilize public and private funds in infrastructure projects.
Le Monde with AFP
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced, Thursday, February 10 in Dakar, that Europe intended to mobilize more than 150 billion euros of investments in Africa in the coming years. “Today, I am proud to announce more than 150 billion euros by the Africa-Europe program. This is the very first regional plan under Global Gateway,” she said before the press, in reference At the European initiative launched in December 2021 to mobilize up to 300 billion euros of public and private funds by 2027 in infrastructure projects around the world. M me von der Leyen has not provided more details.
Global Gateway must synergize the means of the European Union (EU), Member States, European financial institutions, national development agencies and private for strategic infrastructure projects and in the areas of the Industry, Health, Youth and Education. “For all this, we need the private sector, its expertise and its strong investment. We also need political voluntarism at the highest level,” said M me von der Leyen At the side of Senegalese President Macky Sall.
The Global Gateway initiative is seen as a response to the “new silk roads” traced by China, which quickly expands its economic and political presence in Africa. The visit of M me von der Leyen precedes a few days the European Union-African Union summit on February 17th and 18th in Brussels. “Investments will be at the heart of the discussions” of this summit, she stressed: “In this area, Europe is the most reliable partner for Africa and by far the most important.”
The President of the European Commission has reiterated that the Global Gateway initiative was anchored in “the values in which Europe and Africa are attached, such as transparency, sustainability, good governance and the concern for the good- to be populations “. Chinese or Russian competitors of Europeans in Africa are commonly accused of being less demanding about protecting the environment or human rights.
Macky Sall pleads for “a renovated partnership”
M me von der Leyen had indicated in an interview granted to AFP before moving that foreign investment in Africa had “too often hidden costs, financial, political, environmental costs and social, sometimes very heavy “. She had lamented the “dependency” links they could establish, possible allusion to the debt contracted with Chinese donors.
Macky Sall, who has recently assumes the presidency of the African Union (AU), said the EU-UA summit “a renovated, modernized and more action-oriented partnership”. “Europe and Africa have an interest in working together,” because of their proximity, the repercussions on the safety and opportunities offered to Europe by Africa, “with its human and natural resources and its needs. development, “he said. He expressed his “attachment to the fight against global warming, but also our advocacy for the maintenance of gas financing to support the industrialization of Africa and universal access to electricity, since more than 600 million Africans still remain deprived of electricity “.
Senegal places a lot of hope in the future exploitation of the fields of gas and oil discovered in the Atlantic. It plans to produce its first barrels at the end of 2023 or in 2024. The Senegalese President is alarmed with the commitment announced in 2021 by about twenty states, including the United States and France during the climate conference (COP26 ): They plan to put an end here at the end of 2022 to foreign funding for fossil fuel projects without carbon capture techniques.