Department for International Trade to hold virtual Africa Investment Conference

The Department for International Trade is today, 15th November, announcing that it will host a second edition of the Africa Investment Conference on 20 January 2022.

The conference will mark two years from the UK-Africa Investment Summit hosted in London by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, where 27 trade and investment deals worth £6.5bn and further commitments worth £8.9bn were announced.

The conference will be a one-day virtual event aimed at inspiring further UK investment into Africa. It will showcase emerging opportunities across Africa, including in clean growth solutions, highlighting UK expertise.

The UK’s COP26 and G7 presidencies in 2021, as well as COP27 in Egypt next year, will help drive global commitment to a low-carbon future.

UK Minister for Investment Lord Gerry Grimstone said:

The 2020 UK-Africa Investment Summit secured partnerships and investment commitments worth over £15 billion, leading to long term economic growth and jobs for both our regions.

The upcoming African Investment Conference will provide the perfect opportunity to build on this success by bringing UK-Africa investment opportunities, from clean growth to financial services, to the fore within our business communities.

Vicky Ford MP, Minister for Africa, said:

Strengthening our connections with emerging markets across Africa is a priority for the UK.

This conference will bring British and African businesses together to unlock investment, boost growth and support a green transition in both the UK and Africa.

Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa (Acting), Alastair Long, said:

We are proud to be convening this second edition of the Africa Investment Conference after the success of the first one in January 2021. Through this event, we will identify real commercial deals and highlight opportunities for UK businesses and investors to respond to.

This year alone, we have supported more than £2.4bn of UK direct investment into Africa as we have mobilised our teams across the continent to connect British businesses to the opportunities that exist across the African continent. Through this event we will explore the elements needed to support successful investment and the impact that investment can have in Africa.

Co-Chair of the Africa Investors Group (AIG) Andrew Skipper said:

The formation of the Africa Investors Group, following the highly successful UK-Africa Investment Summit of 2020, shows how the UK is putting business at the centre of its investment policy. African countries are stimulating growth through a new paradigm post-pandemic. Companies and investors from the UK, with its strength of rule of law and the deep cultural connections it shares with the continent of Africa, are ideally placed to work in partnership with Africa to contribute to this renewed drive.

The UK private sector can bring expertise, investment and understanding in a range of areas of unparalleled excellence across the continent and across sectors. The focus of the event will be to ‘get it done together’ and we cannot wait to play our part.

The UK Department for International Trade is prioritising building strong trading relationships in Africa, which have the potential to create, diversify and protect investment opportunities. The UK has so far signed nine trade agreements with 17 African countries and ensured continued market access for the majority of the remaining African nations through the UK’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences. A Memorandum of Understanding with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has also been signed, the first of its kind with a non-African country.

Further information on the event, including how to register to attend, is available here.