The France-Africa Summit, officially known as the Africa Forward Summit, is set to take place in Nairobi May 11-12th, bringing together African and French leaders, business leaders, global governmental organisations, international financial institutions, tech leaders, entrepreneurs and many more.
- •Co-hosted by Kenya's President William Ruto and France's Emmanuel Macron, the Summit will focus on economic issues of interest to African countries and France.
- •The program sets out eight themes including the reform of the global financial architecture and the renewal of the development agenda, the energy transition, green industrialisation, blue economy, sustainable agriculture, AI and digital technologies, health and peace & security.
- •The Kenyan Wall Street and Wall Street Africa will be hosting the Bullish Africa Investors' Reception (click on link to register) on May 11th, building momentum toward the upcoming Bullish Africa Annual Summit at the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this September.
ALSO READ; Bullish Africa Returns to Nairobi During Africa Forward Summit Week
The Eight Themes of the Nairobi Declaration
Summit discussions will revolve around the following thematic areas:
- •Energy transition and green industrialization. These two topics will be addressed in a plenary session bringing together the Heads of State and Government as well as around 30 leading CEOs from Africa and France. The discussion will be structured around 3 themes: (i) facilitating trade and investment; (ii) promoting bankable projects through private finance and energy transition catalysts; (iii) strengthening skills and talent development.
- •Reform of the international financial architecture to better mobilize private capital (local and international) for the development of the African continent. Particular focus will be on solutions to improve Africa’s access to sustainable financing, risk reduction mechanisms and fair representation of African countries in the international financial architecture. (working lunch)
- •Unlocking the potential of the blue economy. This roundtable will be organized around three axes: (i) the identification of strategic priorities in terms of maritime governance and environmental security, (ii) the creation of blue jobs and (iii) the decarbonisation of maritime transport.
- •Developing sustainable and value-added agriculture. The discussions of this roundtable will focus on: (i) supporting production and agroecological intensification in Africa through sustainable investments in African agricultural value chains; (ii) the structuring of value chains (for example, the dairy sector) and developing balanced commercial partnerships; and (iii) cooperation on nutrition, school feeding programmes, and food security.
- •Harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence and digital technologies to foster sustainable economic growth. The roundtable will focus on harnessing the potential of AI and digital technologies for growth by addressing (i) investment in digital infrastructure, (ii) building partnerships for open AI, (iii) growth of start-ups and talent training, and (iv) financing AI and the high-tech sector as growth drivers.
- •Building resilient national health systems and developing local and regional production capacities for health products to strengthen the continent’s health sovereignty. This round table will aim to (i) promote a health cooperation model based on partnership and co-construction; (ii) strengthen local production chains for vaccines and medicines; (iii) develop the continent's human and technical capacity in health.
- •Questions of peace and security. A plenary session will address these topics.
Business Leaders Who Will Be in Attendance
- •Mostafa Terrab, Group CEO, OCP
- •Hassanein Hiridjee, Group CEO, AXIAN
- •Rodolphe Saadé, Group CEO, CMA CGM
- •Jean Pascal Tricoire, Chairman, Schneider Electrics
- •Christel Bories, Group CEO, Eramet
- •Thierry Deau, Group CEO, Meridam
- •Guillaume Faury, Group CEO, Airbus
- •Tidjane Dem, General Partner, Partech
- •Economic Development Board, Group CEO, EDB
- •Antoine de Saint Affrique, Group CEO, Danone, with Bagoré Bathily, Group CEO, Laiterie du Berger
- •Maryse Lokossou, Managing Director, CDC Bénin, with Letondji Beheton, Managing Director, SIPI
- •James Mwangi, Group CEO, Equity Bank, with Charles Gomaere, President, Comité Champagne
- •James Mworia, Group CEO, Centum Investment, with Carole Kariuki, Managing Director, KEPSA
- •Baidi Agne, Chairman, Business Africa, with John Mwenda, CEO, Keninvest and Philippe Gautier, President of MEDEFI
- •Louis Margueritte, Group CEO, Business France, with Moroesi Mokhabi, Founder and Executive, Brane Afrika
- •Jeremy Awori, Group CEO, Ecobank, with Françoise Lombard, Group CEO, Proparco
- •Sophie Sidos, President, CCE, with Arnaud Lagesse, Group CEO, IBL Group
- •Kouakou Abissa, Group CEO, AFG, with Yedau Ogoundel, Group CEO, CRRH
- •Mustafa Rawji, Group CEO, Rawbank, with Charles Kié, Group CEO, Génésis Group
- •Thierry Hebraud, Group CEO, Mauritius Commercial Bank, with Béatrice Buffon, Group CEO, EDF Power Solutions
- •Morena Makhoana, Group CEO, Biovac, with Stavros Nicolaou, Group Senior Executive, Aspen
- •Gbenga Oyedode, Co-Founder and Chairman, Aluko & Oyebode, with Philippe Matière, Group CEO, Matière
- •Nicolas Dufourcq, Group CEO, Bpifrance
- •Peter Ndegwa, Group CEO, Safaricom
- •Paul Russo, Group CEO, KCB
- •Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Group CEO, Access Bank
- •Aziz Mebarek, General Parnter, Africinvest
- •Frédéric Oudéa, Group CEO, Sanofi
- •Alenxandre Mérieux, Group CEO, Biomérieux
- •Abdul Samad Rabiu, Group CEO, BUA Group
- •Aliko Dangote, Chairman, Dangote Group
- •Jean-François Fallacher, Group CEO, Eutelsat
- •Florence Parly, Chairwoman, Airfrance – KLM
- •Tony Elumelu, Group CEO, Heirs Holdings / UBA
READ; Bullish Africa Returns to Nairobi During Africa Forward Summit Week
