- Sustainable Finance
- Youth
Future Africa-EU: Strategic Dialogues
- The Africa-Europe Foundation
‘Sustainable Finance’ represents a priority area of joint commitment resulting from the previous Summit of African and European Heads of State in 2022, and provides an operational blueprint for a transformative, future-proof partnership between Africa and Europe.
There is a great deal of activity in the sustainable finance sector, to which African and European countries could make significant contributions by taking the lead and showing shared political will. Collectively, these actions have the potential to bring about significant improvements in both the volume of funding flows and the ease with which such flows are accessed but much more needs to be done to address current barriers, among them:
- The route to reform is currently lengthy and bureaucratic;
- African countries face a very high cost of borrowing on private capital markets in comparison with rates at the World Bank, thanks to the rankings provided by three powerful credit rating agencies;
- As EU countries slash aid budgets due to competing priorities and many African countries are in debt distress, a collective rethink is urgently needed to reduce risks of polarisation, multilateral fracture, increased inequalities and acute climate risks.
See Session 1 | Why Europe Needs Africa (And Africa Needs Europe).
Future Africa-EU’ Strategic Dialogues
The ‘Future Africa-EU’ Strategic Dialogues, taking place on 8 and 9 July 2024, bring into focus Sustainable Finance, not only as a critical domain of cross-continental cooperation but also to pave the way for a paradigm shift towards a real, win-win partnership based on equal footing.
‘Future Africa-EU’ has been timed to take place at a strategic moment for the Africa-Europe Partnership: Mid-way through a super-year of elections, with new institutional cycles taking shape for both the African Union and the European Union (including the next EU Parliament and College of Commissioners), and the forthcoming ‘UN Summit of the Future’ (co facilitated by Namibia and Germany, convening Heads of States from Africa and Europe, as well as senior UN officials).
Within this context, the Africa-Europe Foundation, our co-founders and partners are bringing together members of AEF Strategy Groups, experts and leaders from diverse organisational settings (civil society, the private sector, academia, policymaking and youth networks), all of whom have been working on sustainable finance from different perspectives (among which, debt, global tax cooperation, climate adaptation finance, illicit financial flows, reform of the international financial architecture) – and all of whom are committed to transforming dialogue into action.
The ‘Future Africa-EU’ programme is structured over two days, with three main convening moments:
- First, our Youth-led Workshop on ‘Financing Our Future’ (with young African and European leaders from diverse platforms working together to bring fresh policy thinking on economic inclusion);
- Second, our High-Level Policy Dinner on ‘Financing Our Future’ bringing together Brussels-based AU and EU Ambassadors and senior representatives of international partners); and
- Third, a half-day Strategic Roundtable involving changemakers and policymakers, marking the launch of a new policy brief series ‘Why Europe Needs Africa (And Africa Needs Europe)’.
Download the event program here.
