Politico: “And yet, the only reasonable conclusion to draw now is that France should close its bases and go.” https://www.politico.eu/article/france-africa-sahel-niger-al-qaeda-islamic-state/
France: Today, France’s involvement in the Sahel region has become counterproductive | AFP via Getty Images
“It is not simply French-African dialogue that we must rebuild together, but a project between our two continents, a truly new relationship.
President Emmanuel Macron,
Ouagadougou Speech, 27 November 2017
Making education a priority
A total of 2.5 billion people are expected to live in Africa in 2050. Some 450 million young Africans are due to enter the workforce from 2017 to 2020. Education is an absolute priority when it comes to meeting the population challenge over the long term, boosting economic growth and fighting inequalities.
That is why France announced that it was increasing its contribution to the Global Partnership for Education tenfold and was significantly scaling up its efforts regarding primary education. It committed to doubling the number of university cooperation programmes between French and African institutions by 2022. It is with this in mind that the French-Ivorian education hub (with more than 100 programmes) and the French-Senegalese campus (awarding students in Africa dual degrees issued by French and Senegalese institutions while studying in their home country) were developed.
Supporting entrepreneurship and innovation
With Choose Africa, a project conducted by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and BPI France, €2.5 billion is to be invested from 2018 to 2022 to support young and innovative African businesses. Other projects also support this commitment including the Social Inclusive Business Camp (SIBC), an accelerator programme for successful social inclusive businesses, Digital Africa and the annual issuance of 1,000 “talent passports” to Africa, which enables African researchers, artists and entrepreneurs to come to France to gain experience in their area of expertise.
https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/africa/after-the-ouagadougou-speech/
Media News Global Voices 