Nairobi hosted the “Africa Forward” summit on May 10‑11, 2026, bringing together African leaders to advocate a new approach to pricing risk on the continent and to stimulate investment in key sectors. The event was co‑hosted by Kenyan President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron and attracted U.N. Secretary‑General António Guterres, delegations from more than 30 African states, and senior officials from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the African Development Bank.
President Macron, who holds the G7 rotating presidency this year, emphasized France’s commitment to enhancing African access to finance. He remarked, “We must look at Africa differently,” underscoring that global conflicts such as the war in the Middle East do not uniquely make the continent risky.
Kenya’s Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi told Reuters that a central theme of the discussions would be “how to price risk so that African states are no longer penalized by the perception they are riskier than peer countries.” He noted that Africa’s reputation as a high‑risk market forces governments and businesses to incur higher interest rates, limiting credit availability and deterring potential investors. Mudavadi stressed the need for global financial markets to reassess their view of Africa. The summit also addressed longstanding concerns regarding the methodologies employed by financial institutions.
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