Report October 7, 2024 • 11:00 AM ET Print this page
Delivering a bolder transatlantic agenda for cooperation with Africa
Written by Rama Jade
This essay is part of the report, Transatlantic Horizons: A Cooperative US-EU Policy Agenda for 2025 and Beyond, which outlines an agenda for common action for the incoming US administration and the European Commission.
conclusion
In recent years, the weakening of transatlantic cooperation between Europe and the United States has resulted in a spectacular retreat of Western influence in Africa, benefiting not only China and Russia but also middle powers. Still, recent innovative efforts could be the beginning of revitalizing cooperation between the United States and the European Union (EU) in Africa. However, the success of this cooperation will depend on a deeper understanding of Africa’s needs and greater inclusion of Africans in global governance.
State of play
Despite what the US and EU are doing in Africa, cooperation on policy towards the continent is quite limited. The United States and the European Union each have distinct priorities in Africa, including recent advances in infrastructure development, at both the bilateral and multilateral levels. For example, the Group of Seven (G7) Global Infrastructure Investment Partnership, launched in 2022, aims to mobilize $600 billion for sustainable infrastructure investment in the Global South by 2027.
However, the last time the EU and the US specifically mentioned cooperation in Africa was in a relatively short four-sentence section of the US-EU Summit Joint Statement in October 2023. We share a common interest in a prosperous, peaceful, democratic and resilient Africa, and welcome the African Union’s membership as a permanent member of the G20. We will continue to work together to continue to build synergies with all our partners in Africa. We are committed to promoting security, stability and prosperity in North Africa. We reaffirm our determination to work together with ECOWAS to address our common security challenges in the Sahel region, including the fight against terrorism. ”
This statement could have been issued 20 or 30 years ago, except for the mention that it achieved permanent G20 membership a month ago. Africa’s momentum reflected in its youth boom (one in four people on the planet will be African in 25 years), the digital and artificial intelligence revolution, emerging markets, climate and energy interests, the business environment, Africans’ strong desire for greater independence.
strategic imperative
From a Western perspective, the lack of cooperation with the African continent challenges how to join forces with the United States and the European Union to compete more effectively with world powers such as China and Russia, and the role of middle powers. There is a danger of overlooking the main challenge of growth. Those from the Middle East, Brazil, and India. The former seek to challenge Western dominance on the world stage and the rules they uphold, while the latter seek to expand their wealth and diplomatic influence in an increasingly multilateral world.
Africa has become a strategic element in the expansion of influence of these powers. After the European Union, Africa’s largest trading partners are China, India, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates. At the same time, the BRICS group, which includes founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is expanding. In 2024, the bloc welcomed six new members, including Egypt and Ethiopia. This group currently accounts for one-third of the world’s wealth measured at purchasing power parity and 46 percent of the world’s population. Expansion of group membership and depth of cooperation are important. Their main ambitions include building an alternative multilateralism, starting with 30 percent of new development bank loans being granted unconditionally in local currencies rather than US dollars or euros. Because the loans are more affordable and there are no conditions such as improved democracy, these grants may be attractive to African regimes that are reluctant to account for their governance.
Africa is equally important for security to Washington and Brussels. Russia is Africa’s largest arms supplier. The Russian government is using its influence on the continent as a key resource in the Ukraine war, both in the exploitation of natural resources for its war effort and in its propaganda efforts to justify a full-scale invasion. The Chinese government is also using its relationships on the mainland to its advantage. This strategy worked. Russia and China were able to use the 30 percent share of African countries’ votes in the United Nations to undermine efforts by Ukraine, as well as the United States and the European Union, to rally a global coalition against Russia. Most African countries have refused to support sanctions against Russia, and only one African nation, Eswatini, currently recognizes Taiwan.
For Western countries, the risks are high, both geopolitically and economically. Africa, which holds 30 percent of the world’s significant mineral reserves, is critical as Western countries seek to reduce their dependence on China. In a market where demand for minerals essential for electric vehicles and defense technology, such as lithium, cobalt and copper, is likely to increase almost fourfold by 2030, a good relationship with Africa could help the EU and US de-risk. An extremely important effort.
Policy recommendations
Over the next four years, the EU and the US will need to assert their respective Africa policies on a larger scale to address these major changes and embrace new opportunities on the continent. Substantive conditions are required.
Further Coordination: Many projects offer opportunities for the United States and the European Union and their member states to work together, rather than starting separately. The Partnership for Transatlantic Cooperation, announced in September 2023, has 39 member countries and could include France, Europe’s leading Atlantic power. Regarding the EU’s Global Gateway, this investment project in the textile, green energy, health, energy and transport sectors launched in 2021 will be better aligned with the US’ own efforts launched in the same year as part of the G7’s PGII. should be done. Given the growing importance of young people, the Africa-Europe Youth Academy mirrors similar initiatives by the US government, such as the Young African Leaders Initiative and the Mandela Washington Fellowship, and will or at least cooperation. Greater coherence: Competition with China in key mineral markets should not come at the expense of Africa’s development needs. Prioritizing value and job creation in Africa is critical to reducing migration flows to the north and the EU, but at a time when China is being forced to cut spending on the continent, the US and EU This should give the company a comparative advantage. As Africans become increasingly aware of the need to limit national debt levels and protect national interests. However, Western approaches still do not give sufficient priority to Africa’s development. For example, the Lobito Corridor project, launched in September 2023 under PGII with the participation of Washington and Brussels, failed to distance itself sufficiently from extractive approaches, according to some observers. . Even worse, as far as the EU is concerned, is the continuation of an outdated strategy that is contrary to the fundamental principles of human rights that the EU is supposed to promote, as demonstrated by the surprise strategic minerals agreement signed with Rwanda in February. 2024. More ambition: Western countries also have a tool that their competitors don’t yet have: financing African economies, which could make a big difference in the lives of Africans. The youngest continent needs to create millions of new jobs a year, yet only 3 million are created. Investing in Africa is prohibitively difficult not because governments are spending too much (for example, 55 African countries have spent just $60 billion on coronavirus relief, while European countries have ($4.2 trillion, US $5.8 trillion). It is performing well economically (accounting for 6 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world in 2024), but its borrowing costs are much higher than in other countries (4 times that of the US, 4 times that of Germany). (almost 8 times). With 80% of Africa’s debt denominated in dollars, reform of the international financial system will free up investment in Africa and provide Western countries with a real opportunity to compete with China. The United States and the EU can work with African countries to advance reforms that address these structural problems. More inclusiveness: Rather than remaining on the defensive, the US and European countries will flip the cards and challenge China and Russia to put their promises to Africans into action and test the values of African countries of African countries. Taking the initiative to reform the system will help restore “moral” leadership. honest to the Africans they claim to defend; A coordinated strategy to include two African countries as permanent members of the UN Security Council could build on Washington’s support for such a move and expose the hypocrisy of China and Russia regarding Africa’s participation in this forum. would be helpful.
Rama Yade is senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. She previously served as France’s Deputy Minister of Sport and as France’s Ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
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Image: Workers plant flowers under the newly built Nairobi Expressway on February 8, 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya. Reuters/Buzz Ratner TPX Picture of the Day.
