France and Kenya enter new partnerships in arts, sports, and technology

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto on Monday announced new partnerships in arts and sports and emphasized the need to leverage Africa’s human capital abundance and France’s technological advancement to grow economies.

The two presidents met young people at Kenya’s University of Nairobi on the first day of the Africa Forward Summit and interacted with top African artists and athletes.

Macron said tech solutions used by most countries come from the United States and China yet Africa and Europe could collaborate for stronger innovations.

“I think we have a common fight, a common battle together of investment, which is to build our strategic autonomy for Europe and Africa, and if we build it together, we will be much stronger,” he said.

Ruto said Africa’s youthful and enterprising population was critical in ensuring technological advancements and called for partnerships.

“We have young people with the right skills,” he told the audience.

“We have the right infrastructure in terms of internet connectivity and we have a very enterprising and entrepreneur population. So in my opinion, this is the space in which we are operating and I think every other country should be able to think in that direction because the future is about technology,” he added.