Macron declares $27bn investment fund for Africa as France seeks to counter China’s influence

President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has declared a €23 billion ($27 billion) investment package aimed at boosting Africa’s energy, agriculture, digital technology and maritime sectors during a major summit in Nairobi.

• France has unveiled a $27 billion investment package for Africa during a high-level summit in Kenya aimed at reshaping ties with the continent.
• President Emmanuel Macron said the funding would support energy transition, digital technology, agriculture and maritime projects across Africa.
• Macron also defended France’s military withdrawal from the Sahel and criticised China’s approach to critical minerals and global supply chains.
• The summit reflects Europe’s growing push to strengthen economic partnerships in Africa amid rising geopolitical competition with China and the United States.

Speaking at the two-day Africa Forward summit hosted by Kenya, Macron said the investments would combine €14 billion, about $16.4 billion, from French public and private institutions with €9 billion, roughly $10.6 billion, from African investors.

The French leader said the programme could generate up to 250,000 direct jobs across Africa and in France, as Paris attempts to reset relations with African nations after years of political and military tensions, particularly in West Africa and the Sahel.

“We are not simply here to come and invest on the African continent alongside you, we need the great African business leaders to come and invest in France,” Macron told delegates at Nairobi’s convention centre.

The summit brought together African heads of state, executives and investors amid intensifying competition between Europe, China and the United States for influence across Africa’s fast-growing economies and strategic mineral resources.

Macron targets China’s Africa influence

Macron used the gathering to position Europe as a stable economic partner for African countries amid shifting geopolitical alliances.

He argued that Europe supported multilateral trade and international legal frameworks, while criticising China’s approach to critical minerals and rare earth supply chains.

On China’s role in Africa, Macron said Beijing operated with a “predatory logic” by processing strategic minerals domestically and creating global dependencies.

France seeks reset after Sahel tensions

The French president also defended France’s military engagement in the Sahel, where several governments have cut ties with Paris following military coups and rising anti-French sentiment. French troops have withdrawn from countries including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in recent years.

“When our presence was no longer wanted after the coups, we left. That wasn’t a humiliation but a logical response to a given situation," he remarked, according to The Africa Report.

Macron also reignited debate over colonialism and governance in Africa ahead of the summit, arguing that former colonial powers should not bear sole responsibility for the continent’s current challenges.

“We must not exonerate from all responsibility the seven decades that followed independence,” he said, while calling on African governments to strengthen governance and economic management.

The summit also addressed cultural restitution as Macron said the return of African artworks taken during the colonial era had become “unstoppable” after the French parliament passed legislation enabling the repatriation of looted artefacts to African nations.

France has increasingly sought to rebuild its image in Africa through trade, investment and cultural diplomacy as its political and military influence declines in several former colonies.

The Nairobi summit marks one of Paris’s largest recent attempts to deepen commercial ties with African economies while encouraging greater African investment into Europe.