The government of Germany has pledged to invest 4 billion euros in Africa’s green energy until 2030, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Tuesday.
Scholz was speaking at a press conference in Berlin after meeting African leaders and heads of international organisations during the G20 Compact with Africa conference.
President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, was also in attendance.
The Compact with Africa was initiated by Germany in 2017 during its presidency of the G20 to foster conditions for private sector investment in Africa. To date, 13 African countries have joined the initiative: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia.
Describing Africa as “the partner of our choice”, Chancellor Scholz said African countries should benefit more strongly from their wealth of natural resources and explained that the first step of processing should take place locally, creating jobs and prosperity.
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During the Compact with Africa conference, Adesina pushed for stronger partnerships and investment in Africa, the world’s fastest-growing continent. He emphasised the importance of private sector development in Africa.
“I commend Chancellor Olaf Scholz for convening the Compact with Africa Conference. The African Development Bank remains fully committed to the success of this initiative, especially through its focus on promoting private sector development in Africa.” Adesina said.
The AfDB President noted that tackling climate change, Africa’s infrastructure gap, and unlocking industrial manufacturing capacities requires attracting private sector financing at scale. To achieve this objective, he outlined several actions multilateral institutions must take.
“First, we must develop bankable projects and make them available to private investors.”
“Second, private sector development strategies must be aligned with the net-zero emission objective, with green investments prioritised.”
“Third, we should mitigate global risks and pool resources to optimise investment strategies, including through a platform like the Africa Investment Forum. This is an initiative that the African Development Bank and seven partner organisations created five years ago. It brings together project promoters and private and public financiers to catalyse investments on transformative projects across Africa.”
“I look forward to strengthening our strategic partnership with Germany in our drive to achieve faster economic growth and prosperity for Africa,” Adesina said.
The theme for this year’s G20 Compact with Africa conference was: Strengthening multilateral cooperation and working on a rules-based, fair, international economic and financial system.
