Macron Courts Africa in Nairobi With $1bn in Deals
French President Emmanuel Macron and more than 30 African heads of state opened the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday, May 11, as Paris sought to deepen its ties on the continent through new investment deals and trade partnerships. Emmanuel Macron is meeting with these leaders to discuss Africas future. The summit is the first France has organised in an English-speaking nation, and follows a series of setbacks in West Africa, where some Francophone leaders have cut back on security and commercial links with their former colonial ruler. CNBC Africa
The convention opened with a meeting of business executives attended by Macron and Kenyan President William Ruto at the University of Nairobi. The University of Nairobi is where this meeting took place. In addition to more than 30 African presidents, deputy presidents and prime ministers, attendees included executives from leading French firms such as TotalEnergies and Orange and Africa’s richest man, the Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote. Engineering News
Deals worth more than $1 billion were announced on Sunday during a state visit between Macron and Ruto, including plans by French shipping group CMA CGM to invest 700 million euros ($823 million) to modernise a terminal at the Kenyan port of Mombasa. Further investments in clean energy and artificial intelligence are expected to be announced before the summit closes on Tuesday, May 12, according to Reuters. CNBC Africa
Seated alongside Kenyan President William Ruto on a panel discussion with young entrepreneurs about technology and artificial intelligence, Macron said Africa and France were equal partners with common objectives. CNBC Africa
At a news conference with Ruto on Sunday, Macron addressed the notable absences from the summit directly. “We can disagree with some of these governments…but we never disagree with people,” he said, referring to nations whose governments have pulled back from France in recent years. Asharq Al-Awsat
Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi told Reuters that Kenya hoped summit outcomes would be fed into the G7 agenda. “We believe it’s a good thing if critical outcomes of this meeting … can also be mainstreamed as critical agenda items by the G7,” he said. Engineering News
Kenya hopes to use the summit to attract French investors looking to take advantage of the pan-African free trade area (AfCFTA), which is being rolled out across the continent. President Ruto also wants to advance talks on making the global financial system fairer to heavily indebted African countries, a campaign France has pledged to support. Engineering News
The Kenyan president will attend the G7 summit next month in Evian-les-Bains at the invitation of France, which holds the group’s rotating presidency. Asharq Al-Awsat
The Mombasa port investment is not without complications. France has touted rising trade with African countries, though it has experienced disappointments too. Last year, Ruto’s government terminated a $1.5 billion highway expansion deal with a consortium led by France’s Vinci SA and handed it to Chinese firms after Kenyan authorities said it saddled them with too much risk. CNBC Africa
In advance of the summit, France and Kenya also signed a five-year defense cooperation agreement, and approximately 800 French soldiers arrived in the port city of Mombasa for joint training exercises. Kenyan officials said the pact is designed to enhance the country’s defense capacity through access to French training, technology, and expertise in maritime security and intelligence exchange, according to Responsible Statecraft. Responsible Statecraft
Regional and Global Impact
The summit’s conclusions are expected to provide substance for preparations ahead of the G7 Summit, which France will host in Evian from June 15 to 17. Discussions on development finance, global governance reform, and youth employment are all slated to feed into that agenda. Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères
The summit reflects a broader attempt to redefine France’s role in Africa under President Macron and to reposition France within a more competitive global environment. The entry of Chinese and Russian actors across the continent — particularly in the Sahel — has added urgency to Paris’s outreach in East Africa. Modern Diplomacy
The 2026 summit is the first to be held since the dramatic collapse of relations between France and a number of West African countries — notably Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Those fractures have pushed France to cultivate new partners, with Kenya now emerging as the centrepiece of that eastward pivot. The Conversation
Background
Coups since 2020 in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger brought to power military officers who expelled French troops and invited in Russian mercenaries. France also handed over control of its last major military facility in Senegal last July after Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said French bases were incompatible with the country’s sovereignty. The Africa Forward Summit builds on the Summit on the Financing of African Economies held in Paris in 2021, the New Global Financing Pact held in Paris in 2023, and the Africa Climate Summit held in Nairobi the same year. The decision to hold this summit in Nairobi was announced at the 79th UN General Assembly in New York in September 2024, when Ruto and Macron agreed it would be the first France–Africa summit ever staged in an English-speaking African country and the first held outside France altogether. The 2026 summit can be understood as the latest example of Macron’s Africa doctrine, which he laid out in Burkina Faso in 2017. CNBC Africa + 4
What Happens Next
May 12 will be devoted to development finance and global issues, with youth employment and training, sovereignty and competitiveness at the core of discussions. These things will be the topics of conversation. Development finance and global issues are very important. The summit will also address peace and security in support of African Union mediation efforts. Additional investment announcements in clean energy and AI are expected on that second day, according to Reuters. Certain conclusions of the Africa Forward Summit will then provide substance for preparations ahead of the G7 Summit in Evian, France, from June 15 to 17. Kenya’s President Ruto is confirmed to attend the G7 summit next month at the invitation of France. Élysée + 2
