EU-African Summit: European Union Announces Investment Plan Of €150 Billion For Africa, As It Moves To Fix Strained Relations

The European Union yesterday and today played host to more than 40 African leaders with the  move to reassert its influence on the African continent that has seen China and Russia making significant investment inroads in the wake of increased security threats in several parts of Africa.

The EU-African Union Summit, project conceived two years ago after the European Union (EU) initiated a plan for a ‘strategic partnership’ with Africa was mooted to advance cordial relationship between the European and African continent.  

The recent insurgence of China Russia interests may have whittled down the monopolistic partnership of the European Union and Africa and this the EU officials are trying to correct.

Bilateral relations were said to have also be strained and it is on the aegis of this that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared during the 2022 EU-African Summit in Dakar, Senegal that:

“We need to respect one another. But from Europe, I just got a message saying, ‘We banned travel. Thank you. Goodbye. See you next time.’ That’s not the way to conduct relationships.”    

The strain in relationship between the EU and Africa got  to ‘a high’ after the European Union’s special envoy for Ethiopia, Pekka Haavisto, in 2021 raised the alarm that the Ethiopian government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed  was planning to “wipe out” the population in the Western Tigray region. The vituperations and brickbating that came after the warning further fuelled tensions.

Also, in October 2020, African Union officials complained that a delegation led by EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell risked creating a super-spreading event by insisting on a visit to Addis Ababa to publicize donations of 7.5 tons of testing kits, an allegation that further deepened the divide.

It appears that the ugly events of the past has been put behind at the 2022 summit,  as the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on In Dakar Thursday announced that the Global Gateway would comprise an investment plan worth more than €150 billion for Africa, a significant financial aid to the continent.

He said:

“At the summit, investments will be at the heart of the discussions because they are the means of our shared ambition.” 

The summit also promised to establish an EU investment platform in Africa but the major issue with it is that it will not be backed by any new financing commitment by Brussels.  

Another talking point was how the $450 billion Special Drawing Rights issued by the International Monetary Fund last year will be reallocated to Africa to help cover the costs of the COVID pandemic.  

At the summit, the following topics were debated at the roundtable:

• Growth financing
• Health systems and vaccine production
• Agriculture and sustainable development
• Education, culture and vocational training, migration and mobility
• Private sector support and economic integration
• Peace, security and governance
• Climate change and energy transition, digital and transport [connectivity and infrastructure]