EU pledges €150 billion to Africa for infrastructure investments
Dakar, Feb 10 (EFE).- The European Union has pledged 150 billion euros ($170 billion) to invest in infrastructure in Africa, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday.
“I am pleased to announce that the Africa-Europe plan is the first regional plan under Global Gateway, our global investment strategy,” von der Leyen wrote on Twitter following a meeting with Senegalese President Macky Sall in Dakar.
The EC chief stressed that this plan will mobilize 150 billion euros of investments.
“To carry out the projects Global Gateway, we need everyone; citizens, local authorities, parliaments,” she explained during a joint press conference with Sall, who holds the rotating African Union (AU) chairmanship.
“Global Gateway will get everyone involved. Global Gateway wants to create growth. And Global Gateway wants to create trust,” von der Leyen added.
In December, the Commission president announced that Global Gateway aims to mobilize 300 billion euros in investments in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia.
The AU leader said that the initiative was an alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an international development project by China, a country that has massively invested in Africa over the last decade.
Von der Leyen, who arrived in Senegal from a visit in Morocco on Wednesday, made the investment announcement in Dakar ahead of the EU-AU Summit, which is set to take place between February 17 and 18. EFE
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