So, What Exactly Did Emmanuel Macron Accomplish With His African Finance Summit? Nothing Substantive.

French President Emmanuel Macron (C) greets Ethiopia's President Sahle-Work Zewde (L) and Senegal's President Macky Sall (R) before the opening session of the Summit on the Financing of African Economies on May 18, 2021 in Paris. Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP

The day-long Summit on the Financing of African Economies wrapped up in Paris on Tuesday and left a lot of people scratching their heads wondering what exactly was the purpose of the gathering.

Unlike Monday’s event that focused on Sudanese debt relief and featured host Emmanuel Macron unveiling a series of concrete measures, including the cancellation of $5 billion of loans that Khartoum owes Paris and a $1.5 billion loan for Sudan to repay its obligations to the IMF,  the final communiqué for Tuesday’s summit was non-committal and vague.

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by Eric Olander

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