Ukraine crisis: €190 million from EU to affected businesses in Eastern and Southern Africa 

The pledge was made by the European Union ambassador to Kenya during the Nairobi Business Forum.

By Bernard Bangda

EU Ambassador to Kenya, Henriette Geiger, has pledged €187 million to support businesses in Eastern and Southern Africa affected by the crisis in Ukraine. The announcement was made at the opening of the Nairobi Business Forum.

Geiger said the funds will be released by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to the Trade and Development Bank (TDB), which will disburse them to identified businesses.

« The international community sees Kenya as « a stable democracy in a troubled region ». And the European Union is the main destination for Kenyan products, especially flowers and tea”

This pledge comes amid a diplomatic ballet in Africa between Moscow and the West since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since then, the EU has also taken steps to counter China’s New Silk Road initiative to finance major infrastructure projects in developing countries.

This does not prevent the ambassador of the 27-member EU in Nairobi from scoring points in Nairobi. Trading with Kenya means trading with the most dynamic economy in East Africa. But also with a country that the international community regards as « a stable democracy in a troubled region ». Kenya’s trade with the EU is such that the EU has become the main destination for Kenyan products, especially flowers and tea.

« It is not a competition between French and Chinese companies. While a Chinese company built the Nairobi-Mombasa railway, a French consortium won a €1.6 billion contract to operate the Nairobi-Mau Summit highway in 2020 » 

And France wants to step into the gap left by Europe. Indeed, during the aforementioned forum, in which Emmanuel Macron’s country is the only European participant, the French Minister for Foreign Trade, Olivier Becht, told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Paris would provide €30 million for the construction of eight sports facilities in Kenya. « There is something for every investor who wants to participate in Kenya’s economic growth, » Becht said: « It is not a competition between French and Chinese companies.”

For example, a Chinese company built the Nairobi-Mombasa railway line for $5 billion, which opened in 2017 and is touted as Kenya’s largest infrastructure project. As for France, one of its consortia won a €1.6 billion contract in 2020 to operate a highway between Nairobi and Mau Summit in the west of the country. Its halting in 2022, when the Kenyan head of state, William Ruto, took office, was mentioned during the discussions between the latter and Olivier Becht.

« Our relations with France are anchored on a win-win relationship that drives economic growth across trade, energy, health and infrastructure » 

And as if to give a clearer indication of the direction he wants cooperation with France to take, the Kenyan president tweeted immediately after the meeting with the French cooperation minister: « Kenya seeks a win-win relationship that drives economic growth. Our relations with France are anchored on this principle across trade, energy, health and infrastructure ».