As part of the “Compact with Africa” summit under German auspices, Scholz said his government wanted to establish itself as a reliable partner to advance the decarbonization of economic activities on the African continent.
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The federal government announced on Monday that it will provide 4 billion euros for green energy projects in Africa by 2030.
At a press conference as part of the “Compact with Africa” summit, which took place in Berlin on the initiative of the German G20 Presidency, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that African countries should “benefit more from the wealth of their natural resources”.
“Compact with Africa” aims to improve the economic conditions of participating countries to make them more attractive to private foreign investment. The initiative covers Egypt, Ethiopia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia.
Scholz said Germany strives to become a reliable long-term partner for African countries, with the aim of “intensifying economic relations and moving forward together” towards decarbonization.
The President of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, also attended the press conference and invited investments in the continent’s potential, including in the energy sector, which he described as a mutually beneficial situation.
Faki spoke of the “extraordinary potential that can be exploited both for the private sector in Germany as well as in Europe and around the world that wants to invest”, which “enables the generation of profits, which is very profitable” and secondly: “ produce clean energy, renewable energy, preferably green energy.”
“This is possible and is in the interest of all humanity,” he added, referring to the 30 million square meters of land, the 1.45 billion people, the 60% of the unused agricultural land in Africa, the Congo, several million square kilometers of forests, water, Streams, rivers, “significant natural resources.”
“At the same time, it is also a continent where 600 million people have no access to electricity, and that is where we are talking about the energy transition today.”
Faki was also convinced that investing in Africa is “not development aid” but represents a “win-win partnership” and stressed that “the key is energy.” And he emphasized the “good reasons for investing” in a continent emphasizing that this “significant potential” benefits both the African people and its partners, stressing that Africa is open “to all types of partnerships”.
He also stressed that this would mean that young Africans would not make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean that has claimed thousands of lives, but that they could remain on the continent and benefit from the working conditions there for their own people.