UK to host African Investment Summit in April 2024

• the announcement comes as Foreign Secretary James Cleverly signs new trade and investment agreement with Sierra Leone whilst in Freetown
• Summit aims to promote 2-way trade and investment, creating jobs and growth and supporting women entrepreneurs

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The Prime Minister will host a UK-African Investment Summit (UK-AIS) in London on 23 to 24 April 2024.

The Summit will bring together Heads of State and Government from 24 African countries with British and African business leaders. It will strengthen UK-African partnerships to create jobs and growth, supporting British and African talent in sectors such as finance and technology, and promote women entrepreneurs.

The Summit will build on the results of the UK-African Investment Summit 2020 and virtual UK-African Investment Conferences in 2021 and 2022. The UK-African Investment Summit 2020 marked an important milestone in our partnerships with African countries and announced over £6.5 billion of deals, plus a further £8.9 billion of investment commitments.

The virtual conferences in the following years built further connections between UK and African businesses, with more than 3,000 UK and African delegates looking at future opportunities to facilitate deals, with a focus on clean growth opportunities across the continent.

By 2050, 2 billion people will live in Africa, more than half will be under 25.

During the next 2 years, faster economic growth is expected across Sub-Saharan Africa than the global average. And as the world faces the stark and shared challenge of climate change, the UK is working with African countries to support them to mitigate and adapt to its effects, recognising Africa’s abundant potential for renewable energies of the future.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:

To grow the UK’s economy, create opportunities for growth and bolster our economic security, we must deepen our ties with partners across the world.

This summit will ensure we are able to harness the potential of our relationships across Africa and grow our economies together, making them stronger, resilient, and innovative.

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By facilitating business-to-business links, trade opportunities and investment, UK-AIS will help harness this potential for the creation of mutual prosperity, economic growth, jobs and a global transition to green energy.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Secretary, James Cleverly, working closely with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and President of the Board of Trade, Kemi Badenoch, will lead work across Whitehall to prepare for the Summit.

The Foreign Secretary said:

The UK’s trade and investment relations with countries right across the African continent are delivering significant mutual economic benefits to all of us.

Affirming the UK’s position as a leading investor in Africa, this second African Investment Summit in London will build on our successes since 2020 which have combined the strengths, innovations and expertise of the UK and our partners across Africa to support reliable, sustainable and long-term investment.

The UK and Africa go far when we go together.

The Foreign Secretary committed last December to focusing on partnerships of the future with countries whose economies, populations and ultimately influence globally are growing.

He sees countries in Africa as central to this and is seeking to build on our partnerships across the continent on the basis of respect, mutual benefit, common interests, and, most importantly, by listening to African countries’ perspectives.

That has been a major part of his visit this week to Sierra Leone, where he has signed an agreement between the UK and Sierra Leone on trade and investment. He also met members of the government and opposition leaders to take stock ahead of upcoming elections, and discuss UK support towards growing the Sierra Leonean economy.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) sets up annual UK-Sierra Leone trade and investment forums; and deepens the trade partnership between Sierra Leone and the UK.

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Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said:

I’m pleased that we are building on the success of the 2020 Summit as we continue to strengthen our excellent relationships with our African partners.

These partnerships have already helped grow our economies, and I look forward to coming together again to discuss our joint ambitions to increase trade and investment, enhance market access and create jobs.

Background

• pictures from the Foreign Secretary’s Sierra Leone trip will be uploaded to the UK Government Flickr site.
• video footage will be uploaded to this Google Drive.
• the UK-African Investment Summit will bring together political and business leaders from the UK and 24 African countries, as well as representatives of international and regional organisations
• the 24 countries are:  Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zambia
• according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UK is the largest holder of foreign assets in Africa (2020 figures)
• Michael Tatham CMG has been appointed Summit Chief Executive Officer.  Michael is a senior and experienced UK diplomat. His most recent posting was as Deputy Head of Mission at the UK Embassy in Washington
• UK-AIS 2024 will use the UK’s unique position as a global financial hub, leading investor in the continent and convening power to secure mutually-beneficial major investments into African countries, facilitate 2-way trade and investment, and support policies and reforms that boost long-term prospects for investment
• the 2020 Summit demonstrated the UK’s commitment to UK-African partnerships, its significant convening power and its appeal as a leading investment partner
  • the 2020 Summit provided a platform for substantial commercial activity: securing over £6.5 billion of deals on the day (with additional major deals advanced and concluded in the weeks immediately following the Summit), plus a further £8.9 billion of investment commitments secured around the event in a range of sectors
  • this included deals involving well-known British firms such as Matalan, who announced a £25 million investment in Egypt to launch 11 new shopping outlets, and Diageo who announced £167 million investment into Kenya and East Africa breweries
• our British Investment Partnerships (BIP) offer will help countries in Africa get the investment they need to grow their economies. Through these partnerships, expertise in finance and growth will help deliver transparent and responsible investment with a focus on green, reliable infrastructure. See the UK Government’s strategy for international development for details
  • in 2021 BIP provided access to infrastructure for 8.8 million people, supported over 11 million jobs and made investments of £2.3 billion, of which 75% were in Africa