At a time when France and Kenya are co-organizing in Nairobi the “Africa Forward Summit: Partnerships between Africa and France for Innovation and Growth” on May 11–12, 2026, a conviction is emerging: reshaping relations between France and Africa is essential to tackle together the challenges of the 21st century.
This renewed partnership, which has been under way for several years, is based on the shared ambition to draw balanced and mutually beneficial cooperation. The Africa-France Summit organized in Montpellier in 2021 opened this reflection by giving a voice to youth and actors from civil society and African diasporas. It is now necessary to amplify this dynamic. The organization of an Africa-France summit in Kenya, a non-French-speaking country, illustrates this movement of openness and the broadening of relations between France and the entire continent.
This Summit is also a call to invest in new areas of cooperation, particularly in the fields of heritage, culture and sport, in order to invent more humane and direct forms of partnership, especially between our youth and our diasporas. This summit highlights creators, athletes, artists and all those who, through their initiatives, are already shaping the relations between Africa and the France of tomorrow.
Strengthening our ties must also rely on the private sector, which creates opportunities and drives growth. This is why President Emmanuel Macron and President William Ruto want to give a strong economic dimension to this meeting, which is opening with a business forum. The aim is to promote a more horizontal approach, where innovation, entrepreneurship and youth play a central role in addressing the continent’s challenges.
But this re-foundation is not only guided by shared interests; it is also a strategic necessity in a changing world.
At a time when international law and multilateralism are being called into question, France and Africa are carrying a common agenda on global issues and a common commitment to international law and multilateralism, as recalled by the Summit between the European Union and the African Union organized in Luanda, Angola in November 2025. This Summit also constitutes an opportunity for France and Kenya to pledge for a better representation of the African continent in global governance, particularly in the UN Security Council and the international financial system.
The Summit offers the opportunity to move forward on concrete priorities: energy transition, sustainable agriculture, artificial intelligence, blue economy or health. These are all areas where French and Kenyan expertise can complement each other and lead to useful, sustainable solutions adapted to local realities.
Moreover, this Summit is a chance to highlight the commitment of France, Kenya and other African countries to stepping up mutual investment and to financing tangible solutions to common challenges.
Beyond the projects and declarations, this meeting must above all embody a shared ambition: to build a relationship based on trust and reciprocity.
Africa and France have considerable assets: dynamic youth, abundant creativity and a common interest to find together solutions to global challenges. By setting them in motion together, we can create a renewed partnership, looking to the future, capable of meeting the expectations of our societies and contributing to a more balanced, more united and more sustainable world.
The Africa Forward Summit being action-oriented, the results of the Summit will contribute to consolidate the ties between African countries and France and build forward-looking partnerships.
(Alexis Lamek is the Ambassador of France to Ethiopia and the African Union.)
