France unveils €23bn investment framework for Africa at Nairobi summit
President Macron announces a funding package split between French entities and African investors, targeting energy, digital infrastructure, and agriculture while emphasising a shift away from historical colonial narratives.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced a €23 billion investment initiative for Africa during the Africa Forward summit in Nairobi on Monday. The funding structure comprises €14 billion from French entities, including both public and private sources, and €9 billion from African investors. The initiative is designed to target five specific sectors: energy transition, digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence, the maritime economy, and agriculture.
President Macron stated that the plan aims to generate 250,000 direct jobs across both France and the African continent. He emphasised that the partnership requires reciprocal investment, urging African business leaders to commit capital to France. This approach underpins a renewed relationship described as entirely free of historical hang-ups, moving beyond a model where Europe merely invests on the continent alongside African partners.
The announcement marks a strategic renewal of French engagement with the continent following years of strained relations with former colonies. In a separate interview with The Africa Report prior to the summit, Macron noted that colonialism could no longer be blamed for all current challenges in Africa. He called on African leaders to improve governance over the seven decades since independence, asserting that Europe's former colonial powers were not the predators of this century.
Macron also addressed the repatriation of looted African cultural artefacts, describing the process as unstoppable following the passage of a new French law last week. Beyond cultural restitution, the President positioned Europe as a more reliable trade partner than China or the United States. He criticised Beijing's approach to critical minerals and rare earths, accusing Beijing of operating on a predatory logic that creates global dependencies by processing resources domestically.
Defending France's military presence in the Sahel region, Macron framed the withdrawal of forces after recent coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger as a logical response to a given situation rather than a humiliation. He expressed confidence that a new era is starting for the region, predicting it will one day regain normal governance through democratically elected leaders who genuinely care about their people.
