Category: China-India-Africa

French Blindness on Indian Industry

Beyond the Rafale’s “deal” with India, France needs to fundamentally change the way it understands the position of India within the global economy today. As India develops partnerships and seeks to strengthen its power in global industry, France needs to incorporate India’s new vision and “Make in India” program into its own vision about the sub-continent. In order to give priority to this major potential partner, France has to create an “industrial and economic diplomacy”. Joel Ruet, president of The Bridge Tank, defends this opinion in a column published on the blog Les chroniques de l’emergence/ Le Mondeon the 1stof June 2015. Read more in French

A look back at Minister Borloo’s pledge for the electrification of Africa

On March 3, 2015 the Bridge Tank attended the ceremony at the Elysée Palace where President Hollande gave his support to Minister Borloo’s initiative for the electrification of Africa.  Many political figures attended this event including Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, but also the presidents of the Senate and the Assembly. François Hollande said during the conference that: “Only Jean-Louis Borloo could bring together these political forces. This is the spirit of the Grenelle,” referring to the Grenelle Environment Forum that the former Minister of Ecology had overseen.

 

The latter wishes, ahead of the COP21, to frame a real “win-win” between developed and developing countries to gather the basis for an agreement. Jean Louis Borloo insists on the migration issues that would be caused by the lack of access to electricity: “Every year, 10 million more Africans do not have access to energy. If nothing is done, the migration problems will continue. Access to electricity is crucial as it leads to access to water, economic, social and cultural development.

Africa has its own programs, as does the U.S., which has programs for Africa; the next step is greater coordination, which will likely take years. But the bricks are adding up and it was interesting to attend the event. The Bridge Tank then spoke with Minister Borloo, who gave us feedback on his desire to push the integration of strategies and implications of African agencies and companies.

The objective of this foundation “Energies for Africa” was the creation of an agency for the electrification of the continent. Jean-Louis Borloo maintains that “every year, 10 million more Africans do not have access to energy. If nothing is done, the problems of migration will continue. For him, access to electricity is crucial since it also promotes access to water and economic, social and cultural development.

Jean-Louis Borloo also presented his plan for the “electrification of Africa”, which should be spread over ten years. This initiative should benefit from “4 billion euros of subsidies per year for 12 years, and 200 billion in loans” from the French government.

Participation of the Bridge Tank in the 15th edition of the Bamako Forum

The city of Bamako hosted the 15th edition of the Bamako Forum from February 19 to 21, 2015, organized by Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. It offers a chance to public decision-makers, professionals from the public, parapublic and private sectors, international institutions, development partners, civil society and the media to take stock of the continent and analyze the operational and political conditions for its emergence. This forum brought together over 300 people.

All these challenges and opportunities (migration, security issues, religious radicalism, unemployment, especially youth unemployment, the development of youth entrepreneurship, the quality of public services and links between the state and citizens, the progress of regional integration) that Africa must face were addressed during this Forum to enable the emergence of Africa by 2035. This event was therefore entitled “The emergence of Africa by 2035: challenges and opportunities, stakeholders.

During these debates, participants aimed to define the conditions for transforming growth into productive and stable jobs for the continent’s populations, as well as to define political and macroeconomic strategies for accelerated and sustainable growth in Africa.

The President of the Bridge Tank, Joël Ruet, was accompanied by two African members of the steering committee: Elhadj Kasse and Mamadou Lamine Diallo.

Joël Ruet intervened during the debate on the financing of the Malian reconstruction by proposing innovative solutions and by underlining that the world was in full budgetary expansion. He argued that Mali had good margins to raise transformative debt that it should use to rebuild.

The Vice President of the West African Development Bank also spoke at the roundtable.

On the sidelines, Joël Ruet had the opportunity to discuss with Younoussi Touré, former president of the Malian National Assembly and supporter of opposition leader Soumaïla Cissé in the Malian presidential election.

The Bridge Tank attends the United States – Africa Leaders Summit in the presence of Barack Obama

The very first United States – Africa Leaders Summit took place on 5-6 August 2014 in Washington DC. Joël Ruet attended in link with the Senegalese and Malian delegations.

This forum included a discussion organised at the German Marshall Fund. with Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou presenting the 3N programme: “Niger people Nourish Niger people”.

Joel Ruet also attended a debate dinner with Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama on Africa’s electrification, following Barack Obama’s project “Power Africa”. This debate also included talks about sustainable agriculture and energy.

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