Africa Forward can be the catalyst for a new world – Opinion piece by Ms Amina Longoh, Ambassador of Chad to France

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Africa-France: a shared past

Nairobi brought together heads of state and government, policymakers, diplomats, entrepreneurs and influential civil society voices from both shores, in a shared desire to share and clear the way for new opportunities to build a different and resilient world together.

 Africa and France share an undeniable past, shaped by wounds, but also by successes. It is important that we make the Kenyan meeting the foundation of a relationship envisaged on new, fairer, more balanced and more ambitious terms.

Every day, in my meetings and diplomatic activities, I measure the depth of the heritage that binds our two continents, the strength of the distrust of our youth driven by a sense of exclusion. But I welcome the potential of Africa's youth and their desire for a future within the framework of a renewed, balanced and mutually beneficial Africa-France relationship.

Chad at the heart of the Africa-France renewal

Chad is a major player in this fertile relationship and a model of what transformation entails and makes possible. The presence of the President of the Republic of Chad, Marshal Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, in Nairobi is no coincidence. It is the sign of a personal, resolute commitment to a reinvented Franco-African relationship. Chad, a pivotal nation at the heart of the continent—a bridge between various European, African and Arab influences—has always shouldered a unique geopolitical responsibility.

By coming to Paris to carry the voice of his country, Marshal Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno confirms that Chad intends to make its weight felt in defining the new rules of the game. Our president places our country at the heart of the definition and implementation of a mature partnership between sovereign nations that respect and choose one another. The history between Africa and France has at times been painful. But this pain, while it cannot be erased, is being overcome to make way for the future. The time has come to move from endured cooperation to co-constructed cooperation, through robust, mutually beneficial and shared decision-making mechanisms.

African youth, a precious asset

Africa Forward brought together youth, women and civil society alongside decision-makers to collectively devise and seek solutions for the future. Chad, my country, is young and therefore full of promise.

This youth is an asset that the world still too often views with suspicion, when it should be viewed with confidence. It needs mobility, incubators, capital and trust. Women, at the heart of my public action, must not be sidelined either. They sustain entire sections of the informal economy, agriculture and cultural transmission. They must be at the heart of the two silent revolutions of our era: the digital transition and the climate transition. 

Africa Forward, an important moment for Chad

Connectivity is expanding, mobile usage is exploding, and start-ups are emerging. When it comes to the climate, Chad is paying an unfair price. Lake Chad has lost over 90 % of its surface area in half a century. Millions of people are directly suffering the consequences of global warming to which they have contributed only infinitesimally. Climate justice is not an abstract concept, but a reality that women and farmers experience every day.

Africa Forward was, for Chad, an important moment, the setting for an ambition reiterated and embraced. Chad presented its development plan «Chad Connection 2030», the ambition of which is to accelerate the country's economic and social transformation, to attract foreign investment and to make Chad a model of inclusive and sustainable development in Africa. Our country is open to foreign investment. It has considerable assets: natural resources, a strategic geographical position, agricultural potential, an expanding market. In the person of Marshal Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, we have a visionary leader who is keen to plunge our country into modernity.

Africa Forward must mark a turning point. Not because a single summit is enough to change things, but because the decisions made here, the commitments made here, and the relationships forged here can be the starting point for lasting momentum.

Chad is playing its full part in this. With the strength of its youth, the determination of its women, the clarity of its vision embodied in the «Chad Connection 2030» plan, and the resolve of its president.