Following a meeting between private sector executives from Italy and the United States, leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries committed $420 million in investments for African nations.
This was revealed in a statement that the government of Italy, which is now hosting the 50th G7 conference, released on its website on Thursday.
The statement, titled “G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment Side Event Co-Chair Statement,” said that the co-chairs of the G7 welcomed partner commitments of $100 million and $320 million, which were made to use the private sector to help Africa meet its infrastructure and development needs.
International Investment in Infrastructure
Strategically, Nigeria stands to gain from the agreements reached at the G7 summit.
The majority of the G7 members were Nigeria’s top commercial partners in Q1 2024. The G7 is an informal alliance of seven of the world’s advanced economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
France, the United States, Canada, and Italy ranked among Nigeria’s top 10 export trading partners in Q1, 2024, according to statistics from NBS and Naralytics.
These G7 leaders decided to back flagship initiatives aimed at creating innovative economic corridors that would connect Europe, the Middle East, and Africa with high-quality investments and infrastructure.
In order to support the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) topline goal of mobilizing $600 billion in infrastructure investment in emerging economies, it was stated that a coalition of U.S. investors highlighted and committed new billions of dollars in private investment in scaled infrastructure in emerging markets.
A portion of the statement says,
“Today, Italy joined U.S. and EU efforts to promote sustainable development along the Lobito Corridor – committing to strengthen collaboration and mobilize an additional aggregate contribution of up to $320 million in investment in support of the core rail infrastructure and of the related side projects, with a view to additionally creating synergies with AGIA (Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa).”
“The Co-chairs welcomed the Africa Green Industrialization Initiative (AGII) as a key platform for collaboration on infrastructure investment in Africa and celebrated the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) commitment of up to $100 million in philanthropic catalytic investment capital to unlock an additional $1 billion in private finance.”
The AGIA is a platform that aims to create, finance, and carry out projects with the private sector and to stimulate up to $10 billion in green infrastructure opportunities for private sector investment. It is led by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
G7 Collaboration with the African Development Bank
Within the current engagement, the G7 disclosed that the Italian private sector, via the Mattei Plan for Africa, has introduced new financial instruments in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDb), which are accessible to contributions from international partners.
The G7 co-chairs praised Italy’s reaffirmed pledge to advance African development, particularly through strengthening ties with African nations.
In order to maximize the collective impact through the development of transformative economic corridors in Africa, they emphasized their commitment to increasing coordination in that area.
“The meeting reaffirmed the commitment to initiating and expanding investments around PGII economic corridors globally, including those in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East that connect Europe to Asia. It also expressed gratitude for the vast array of current and upcoming investments made by private companies in strategic sectors, such as financing for digitalization and green energy,” the statement states in part.
Nigeria is in a good position to gain from the financial contributions made to Africa by the United States, Canada, France, and other countries.
Nigeria, for example, was Canada’s biggest bilateral merchandise trading partner in Africa from 2022 to 2024.
