African leaders in Germany for investment Summit

The Africa investment summit began yesterday in Berlin, with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel insisting that Africa has an important role, offering more chances than risks.

She went on to say that the German industry wants better credit guarantees. “I am convinced that boosting private investment from Europe's largest economy would help the African continent to achieve a self-supporting upturn," she said.

 This year's summit which has seen heads of government and business from 12 African partner nations invited, will begin with an Investment Summit which will highlight investments resulting from the G20 Compact with Africa partnerships.

The summit is the second “Compact with Africa” dialogue which was launched in 2017. It is set to run for two days

The first guest speaker, authoritarian Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, said investment would be a stabilizing factor for employment and energy supply across Africa.

Although welcoming Germany's bid to boost investment, German Protestant church development agency’s Africa director Reinhard Palm said those likely to profit would be middle-sized and large investors and not small-to-medium Africa businesses that had "great problems" to get capital long-term.

The G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) was initiated under the German G20 Presidency to promote private investment in Africa, including in infrastructure.

Twelve African nations have so far joined the initiative. They include Rwanda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia.

The initiative is demand-driven and open to all African countries.