Centred on the EU's ambitious External Investment Plan (EIP), this year's Business Forum focused on four topics: youth and women’s entrepreneurship, sustainable energy, agriculture and agro-business, and digitalisation.

The unit for which I am working, DEVCO C6 (sustainable energy and climate change), had together with DG Energy and the African Union Commission organised a session on investments in sustainable energy and a 10th Anniversary celebration event of the Africa EU Energy Partnership (AEEP). We had ensured high-level panellists from the African Development Bank, the Government of Guinea, Italian energy company Eni, the multilateral financial institution Africa Finance Corporation; and Energy Generation.

The event turned out to be a success with more than 1 000 representatives from the African and European business world and political leaders participating during the course of the day.

At the session on sustainable energy investments in Africa, the private sector panellists underscored that the EU External Investment Plan (EIP) (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/external-investment-plan_en) can play a crucial role to reduce the private sector's risk-perception.

They underlined various areas where the EU can give its support to private companies. Support to making projects stable enough to be financed by a bank. Promoting solutions to provide energy access to people in rural areas. Covering currency risks for local entrepreneurs. Enhancing regulatory frameworks in partner countries. Promoting capacity building. All are areas where we are already active but also where we aim to do more. And we will do it together with the private sector.

The ensuing 10th Anniversary celebration of the Africa EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) focused on the success of the AEEP under the Joint Africa EU Strategy (JAES) over the past 10 years and the future of the partnership. The participants underlined that AEEP has been fundamental to promote increased investments in energy infrastructure in Africa and that the Partnership will need to evolve according to the changing energy landscape in Africa.

The Business Forum was an important gathering to accelerate our work. Its outcomes on sustainable energy will feed into a High-Level Platform where the public and private sector can continue the work to promoting investments in sustainable energy in Africa and, by extension, improving the lives of Africans by increasing access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy.

By William Lindberg, Policy Officer, DEVCO C6 – Sustainable Energy, Climate Change