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France offers financial aid to boost investment, growth in Africa

Xinhua, February 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

President Francois Hollande on Friday told African leaders and businessmen that France was ready to pump more money into Africa's projects.

At the Africa-France summit held in Paris, Hollande pledged "to adapt a fair number of tools to promote and facilitate the financing of French companies in Africa, or the financing of projects which could interest Africans."

"We need to better support Africa to finance its projects. Africa is full of unexploited wealth and France is ready to bring many countries to invest there," the French leader said.

Hollande added France would devote 240 million euros (271.67 million U.S. dollars) to finance schemes aimed at improving developments in African countries.

The eurozone's second largest power also wants to create, by next month, a bank for exports, eyeing important international deals in all sectors and luring investors from the African continent.

As Paris is preparing the climate change conference by year-end and during which it hopes to reach a binding global accord, Hollande recalled his pledge to offer one billion euros to help ameliorate new technologies and energy transition.

Besides, the Socialist leader confirmed that French Development Agency would raise 20 billion euros for Africa between 2014 and 2020, of which about 4 billion had been financed last year.

"Africa is our future, because the continent is the fastest growing one, that's the most important potential," Hollande said.

About 700 participants from 33 countries took part in this year's Africa-France summit with the focus on how to further boost cooperation in a way to share expanding growth.

"Africa is full of promises and France is full of projects, that is why we are together," Hollande said.( 1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars) Enditem