A day after announcing she will not be running for office in the next election, Germany’s Angela Merkel pledged a fund to tackle unemployment in Africa.
Believed to be part of her legacy after she leaves office, the fund was launched at the Compact with Africa summit in Berlin early Tuesday.
“We, the German government, have met and reflected on how to take further action. We will create an investment fund for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, both European and African. With this fund, participation and loans will be financed in order to enable, for example, the launch of new markets,” Merkel said at the summit, which was also a platform to evaluate the impact of G20 project.
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“The point wasn’t just talking about Africa, but with it. The Compact with Africa follows a different, a new approach – it is about an equal footing type of partnership, aiming to be long-lasting and benefit all equally. Apart from strengthening Africa as a location for investment, it is also important to establish fair trade relations between Europe and Africa,” she added.
It is also a way to curb immigration to Europe, something that Germany has supported by opening up its doors, unlike many European countries that are putting in place anti-immigrant policies.
The fund comes months after all but six African leaders were in China for the Forum for Africa-China Cooperation, where eight new initiatives were announced by President Xi Jinping. It also followed the visit of Britain, France and Germany early in the year that saw the countries strengthen ties with its African counterparts.
The development fund, open to all African countries, has already attracted 11 member-states of the Compact with Africa initiative, which were represented at the summit by their presidents.
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