Germany pledges major investment in Africa

Berlin [Germany], November 21 (ANI): The German government pledged on Monday (local time) to invest four billion euros into green energy projects in Africa until 2023, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying that African countries should reap greater reward from their raw materials.

The pledge was announced at a news conference at the G20 Compact with Africa summit in Berlin. Scholz did not mention any specific projects but said the materials used in green energy should be processed in the African nations they come from, Euronews reported.

“This creates jobs and prosperity in these countries,” Scholz was cited as saying. “And the German industry gets reliable suppliers.”

The compact with Africa is based on the initiative launched by the German government whilst chairing the G20 group of leading sovereign nations.

The Compact with Africa includes Egypt, Ethiopia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia.

It aims to improve the economic conditions of developing countries and to make them more attractive to foreign private investment.

“Africa is our partner of choice when it comes to intensifying our economic relations and moving toward a climate-neutral future together,” Scholz said.

When asked about China’s influence in the African continent, several African leaders said it was open to other partnerships.

“Perhaps China was more audacious, perhaps they have more vision and perhaps they trusted the potential in Africa,” Moussa Faki, the chairperson of the African Union Commission, said.

“The African continent is open to different partnerships,” he added. “We wish for you to place your trust in us, to impose less conditions and create the conditions together.”

“Improving governance, that’s our responsibility, and therefore this shared vision could allow, I’m certain of it, for a large capital that could be invested in the continent,” Faki said according to a CNN report.