African Union urges more investment in continent

BERLIN (AA) - African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat on Tuesday called on the world’s largest economies to do more to promote private investments in the African continent.

Speaking at the Compact with Africa conference in Berlin, Mahamat underlined that recent economic and political reforms by African countries have increased foreign investments, but are well below the estimates.

“These investments have not fully fulfilled our expectations….nor are they a full exploitation of the potential this continent has to offer,” he said.

Mahamat proposed more African countries should be included to the Germany-led Compact with Africa initiative.

“We are talking about 12 or 15 states in Africa, that’s not sufficient. We have to enlarge the group,” he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reaffirmed Berlin’s support for reform efforts and initiatives to promote investments in African countries.

She also expressed readiness to open Compact with Africa for other African nations.

“If there are African countries that would like to join in, and are willing to do so on the basis of the conditions that we have stipulated, we will be open,” she said.

EU heavyweight Germany initiated the program in 2017 to promote reforms, private investments and development of infrastructure in African countries.

Benin, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Togo and Tunisia have joined the initiative so far.