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Macron Announces €23 Billion Investment Package at Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi
French President Emmanuel Macron pledged 23 billion euros in investments for Africa while co-hosting the Africa Forward Summit in Kenya. The two-day event focused on trade, investment and technology cooperation, including artificial intelligence infrastructure. Macron interrupted a youth forum session to rebuke noisy audience members, calling the behavior a total lack of respect.
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French President Emmanuel Macron announced €23 billion ($27 billion) in investments for Africa on Monday while co-hosting the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi with Kenyan President William Ruto. The package includes €14 billion from French public and private entities and €9 billion from African investors, according to the French presidency.
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The summit brought together more than 30 African heads of state, business executives and young entrepreneurs. Organizers described the gathering as focused on trade, investment, technology and strengthening economic and political ties between France and the continent.
The event forms part of Macron’s effort to reset France’s strategy toward Africa. France has positioned itself as offering a “third way” in Africa’s AI race between American and Chinese technology providers, according to France 24 reporting on the summit.
Kenya is seeking to expand its capacity to meet growing African demand for artificial intelligence tools and data infrastructure. One project under discussion is a proposed large-scale data center in Kenya powered by geothermal energy.
According to a Seeking Alpha report citing project updates, Microsoft and G42 have hit a major roadblock in Kenya on the data center plan. Negotiations have faced obstacles related to the facility’s power demands and payment guarantees. The proposed one-gigawatt facility would consume roughly one-third of Kenya’s total power capacity.
Officials have noted the scale could require switching off substantial portions of the country to meet the project’s needs. Talks over government guarantees for power offtake payments have stalled. The lead foreign technology partner is considering scaling back the project’s size.
