At the opening of the summit on financing of African economies, which was held in Paris on 18 May, Macron hammered out two words: ‘urgency’ and ‘ambition’ for the continent. A few hours later, when the time came to take stock of the situation, in front of the Eiffel Tower, it was a mixed bag of issues.
21 African heads of state and government travelled for the summit, as well as several heads of continental organisations (African Union, ADB, etc.) and international organisations (European Union, IMF, etc.).
The aim was to come up with a unified response to the unprecedented economic shock presented by the Covid-19 pandemic and establish a vast recovery plan for the continent – sort of like an ‘African New Deal’, as the participants described it.
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