Harriett Baldwin welcomes the recent UK-Africa investment summit and asks if there will be another and how other African countries can get involved.
Prosperity in Africa
Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)
6. What diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help promote prosperity in Africa. (900590)
The Minister for Africa (Andrew Stephenson)
Increased trade and investment in Africa will improve African Government revenues, and support job creation and economic growth, which is beneficial for African states and the United Kingdom. On 20 January, the Government hosted the UK-Africa investment summit, where £6.5 billion-worth of commercial deals and £1.5 billion-worth of Government funding initiatives were announced. Commitments announced at the AIS will help to drive prosperity across the continent.
Harriett Baldwin
I congratulate my hon. Friend and everyone involved in the very successful Africa investment summit. Will there be another one and, if so, what would the African countries that were not invited to this one need to do to get an invite to the next one?
Andrew Stephenson
I start by paying tribute to my predecessor for the work that she did in the early preparations for the summit. The summit achieved its objectives of laying the foundations for a new, stronger relationship between the United Kingdom and Africa, based on mutually beneficial trade and investment. Following our departure from the European Union, the Government will build further on those foundations in a range of ways, and we are currently looking at the feedback from the summit.