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[FEATURE] Africa-France: Youth take Center Stage at the Summit
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The New Africa-France Summit will be held on October 8, 2021 in Montpellier, France. This year the format is radically different: no heads of state will attend – with the exception of French President Emmanuel Macron – and it will be devoted exclusively to the youth of Africa and France. Their commitment to the future of the relationship between France and the African continent is crucial—a wide-ranging commitment in societies undergoing deep change in culture, sports, entrepreneurship, innovation, civic engagement, higher education, and research.
Montpellier will welcome hundreds of young entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, students, researchers, and other committed youth on Friday, October 8, as part of the New Africa-France Summit. Their task will be to work together to consider the prospects and concrete actions needed to renew a relationship that is resolutely turned towards the future.
AFD and its private-sector subsidiary Proparco are actively involved in this summit alongside their African partners. Indeed, our Group’s priority is to support solutions driven by African youth, in particular by and for women—a policy in line with French President Emmanuel Macron’s Ouagadougou speech of November 28, 2017.
Since it was created 80 years ago, AFD Group has been not only a partner to Africa, but also its unfailing ally in France and in the international arena. Nearly 50% of its commitments are implemented in Africa, where AFD promotes actions to structure and foster new local and sustainable sectors. The foundation of this in-depth action is a relationship based on recognition and reciprocity.
Its aim: to invest sustainably in Africa and with Africa, on this young and innovative continent, where the world of the future is being invented. This partnership is also being built along with French economic players and the African diasporas in France.
These far-reaching goals are materialized on an everyday basis, through the hundreds of programs we support in Africa. These represent a total of €4.9 billion of commitments in 2020—including €511 million for the G5 Sahel countries.
Here is a brief selection of AFD Group’s actions, representative of the themes to be explored on October 8 in Montpellier.