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Add to Preferred SourcesNext week, the UK is set to welcome African leaders and senior government representatives along with British and African businesses to the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London.
By 2050, over 2 billion people will live in Africa and 1 in 4 global consumers will be African. The Summit will harness the potential of the continent and create new lasting partnerships that will deliver more investment, jobs and growth and benefit people and businesses across Africa and the UK.
“As the official Envoy for the UK-Africa Investment Summit I have, most recently, just visited Algeria. I met the new Commerce Minister and senior officials, the leadership of the Forum Chefs d’Enterprises and members of the British business community. They were enthusiastic about the Summit and the potential for growing business partnership between the UK and Algeria, particularly following the formation of a new Algerian government focused on reform,” said Philip Parham.
The UK is already a leading investor in Africa. In 2018 alone, the UK’s development finance institution CDC made investments supporting over 370,000 jobs across Africa. Since 2002 the UK’s Private Infrastructure Development Group has invested over £1.95bn in 146 infrastructure projects across Africa. The stock of UK investment in Africa is worth £39bn in 2018.
Investment is life-changing. It can create sustainable jobs, boost access to education, improve public services and gives young people the opportunity to shape their own futures.
UK businesses are already investing sustainably across Africa. Examples include Diageo with its environmentally friendly brewery in Kenya, the solar energy provider Azuri Technologies from Cambridge, and Northamptonshire-based Blue Skies Fruit which invests in fruit farming.
The UK is already providing crucial expertise to enable African countries to raise funds from the international markets in their own currencies. This means that they can attract valuable long-term investment while being protected from exchange rate fluctuations.
The UK-Africa Investment Summit on 20 January will mark the beginning of a step-change in the focus and effectiveness of UK-Africa partnership – a partnership that will build a better future for us all.
Original source: DFID
Published on 15 January 2019