Christmas and the holiday season bring together friends old and new to reflect on the year just past.
It’s in that spirit that I will bring high commissioners, ambassadors, civil society and business leaders from countries across Africa together this evening. I will set a new course for our partnerships in the region, one focussed on supporting like-minded democracies, boosting our economies through free trade, empowering women and girls, keeping our people safe and delivering a cleaner, greener planet.
African countries will play a key role in tackling the global challenges of the future. By 2050, one in four of the world’s population will live on this diverse continent, home to youthful populations, growing economies and a quarter of global biodiversity. My visits to South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Sudan and Senegal, have shown me exactly what this vibrant continent can achieve.
This year has brought moments to celebrate in Africa. We’ve seen a democratic transition in Zambia and the abolition of the death penalty in Sierra Leone.
President Kenyatta announced the launch of the Nairobi International Financial Centre while in London, which through collaboration with the London Stock Exchange will channel international investment into Kenya and the wider region. And scientists in South Africa have developed a world-class genomic sequencing industry.
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At the same time, African nations have been experiencing extraordinary challenges. Covid-19 has pushed an estimated 32 million additional people into poverty, plunging the continent into its deepest recession. In Somalia, Kenya and Madagascar rains have failed and droughts have brought hunger. This past year has also seen violent conflicts in Ethiopia and Mali, and threats to democracy in Sudan, Eswatini, and Guinea.
The UK and our African partners have stood together through the good times this year, and the bad. And it is in all our interests that we work together to advance freedom, democracy and sustainable enterprise. We are positioning the UK at the heart of an unrivalled global network of economic, diplomatic and security partnerships to do just that.
On Covid, we have donated almost £550 million to COVAX and pledged to share 100 million vaccines directly with partners across the world. Thanks to support from the UK and others, vaccine manufacturing capability is being developed across the continent.
UK leadership at Cop26 in Glasgow this year saw international agreements to invest $8.5 billion to support South Africa’s transition to clean energy and $1.5 billion in the Congo Basin’s rainforest.
For only the second time in our country’s history the UK has a female foreign secretary, and we have stepped up our action to empower women and girls. At the Girls Education summit this year, co-hosted by the UK and Kenya, we raised a record £3 billion. This will support 40 million girls like those I met in Lesotho, Sudan and elsewhere to access high quality education, unlocking opportunities for their futures.
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We will continue to provide much-needed support to vulnerable people across the continent, but we will also invest the honest and clean finance developing countries have been calling for in order to thrive.
The launch of British International Investment, the UK’s development finance arm, will see the UK provide high quality infrastructure partnerships with countries across Africa, which will lift people out of poverty and provide jobs. As a former infrastructure financier, I know investment transforms lives.
I saw this recently in Senegal, where the UK is partnering with logistics company DP World to develop a world-class port as part of a £1.7 billion investment which will create five million new jobs across Africa and, thanks to increased trade opportunities, support economic growth here in the UK too.
A freer, safer, wealthier and greener Africa is squarely in Britain’s interest. These deeper economic partnerships will help deliver that.
We know the impact of climate change, the global pandemic and the threats posed by malign actors can pose risks to our own security in the UK. The growth promised by free and fair trade is an opportunity to counter those risks.
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As we tackle global challenges together next year, I will guarantee that our Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office plays its part in ensuring the UK’s relationships with African countries are stronger than ever in 2022.
Vicky Ford is Minister for Africa