![Chrysoula Zacharopoulou: “Fighting the climate crisis is the priority of our development policy” Chrysoula Zacharopoulou: “Fighting the climate crisis is the priority of our development policy”](https://media.lesechos.com/api/v1/images/view/66438b1ef7e779398f64995b/1280x720/01101059273889-web-tete.jpg)
The Secretary of State for Development and International Partnerships, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, reveals French priorities. Climate transition and Africa are at the heart of French policy.
France’s aid and partnership policy is increasingly turning towards East Africa. For what ?
This is not a shift but an expansion of our intervention towards countries requiring French expertise. In December, we concluded a partnership in Mozambique: EDF is investing 4.5 billion euros there for the construction and operation of a dam and its hydroelectric plant which will give access to electricity to half the population .
There is a general dynamic in Africa. In West Africa, I like the example of Nigeria. France is the second financial partner of this economic giant. In ten years, our investments there have doubled. We have invested 100 million euros in the creative cultural industries. In cinema, everyone knows Hollywood and Bollywood; but you also have to be interested in Nollywood which drives the African scene!
Is this enlargement to the East not linked to French difficulties in West Africa and the Sahel?
The tensions do not concern all of West Africa. We have excellent relations with Nigeria; but also Benin, Senegal and Ivory Coast! As for the Sahelian countries which have experienced coups, we have continued humanitarian support to the populations.
However, you cannot deny the anti-French resentment in this region. How to cope ?
Yes, there is an anti-French discourse in certain countries; but it is far from being a majority. When it is real, I listen to it and I respond: our partnership policy is not naive, it is transactional; France focuses on partners who want to work with it. Everyone must bear the consequences.
How do you see France’s development aid policy evolving in Africa?
The examples I gave you show it: it is “partnership”!
Our ambition is also part of a European dynamic. This is the strategy adopted at the European Union – African Union Summit in 2022. Sub-Saharan Africa is a major priority: Europe is providing 30 billion euros out of a total of 79 billion, with six clear priorities, such as energy transition or even agricultural development.
With the African Union, we will host the World Forum on Vaccine Innovation and Health in Paris on June 20.
And we accelerate! With the African Union, we will host the Global Forum on Innovation and Vaccine Health in Paris on June 20. We will launch a new financial support mechanism for the production of vaccines in Africa by African actors. This is a continuation of our investments in three major vaccine production hubs in South Africa, Rwanda and Senegal.
At the clean cooking summit in Paris on Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron announced a new project with Tanzania?
Tanzania co-chaired this summit with Norway. The president indicated that France will invest up to 100 million euros over 5 years to support countries which adopt this objective supported by this African country since COP28, last December.
Clean cooking is indeed an issue for many of our African partners where four out of five people cook with wood or charcoal.
The African continent is responsible for only 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But this Tanzanian initiative is a contribution that overlaps with our priorities: the energy transition but also public health (mainly women) and the fight against deforestation.
Did Botswana also become a privileged partner last month?
The signing last month of the Gaborone Declaration establishes a road map based on our respective interests. Because charity is not a policy. We are no longer in the era when aid was granted. We invest within the framework of a partnership where everyone must find what they need.
With Botswana, we have defined three priorities: agriculture, sustainable tourism and digital entrepreneurship.
We signed a similar declaration on Tuesday with Tanzania, covering five priorities, first and foremost the energy transition. Combating the climate crisis is the priority of our development policy. In Tanzania, we are investing 119 million euros in the construction of the largest photovoltaic power plant in East Africa, in the Kishapu region.