- Minister for Development and Africa will hold discussions
with African leaders this week on rising food insecurity.
-
will explore
opportunities to expand British Investment into African
countries to tackle this challenge.
- He will meet Senegalese President and current African Union
Chair Macky Sall during his visit, which will celebrate the UK’s
growing partnership with a fast-growing, democratic, and stable
regional power.
The UK Minister for Development and Africa will emphasise the
importance of the UK working with African countries to grow
economies and boost food security – on a two-day visit to
Senegal, starting today (Tuesday 24 January).
Arriving in Dakar, will hail the important
relationship between the UK and Senegal, a country, with huge
economic potential.
He will meet key Senegalese government figures on his visit,
including current African Union Chair and Senegal President Macky
Sall. He will also set out the UK’s vision of a stronger
partnership between the UK and Senegal that delivers mutual
prosperity and security, and tackles global issues such as health
and climate change. He will sign the first ever Memorandum of
Understanding between the UK and Senegal, a symbol of our growing
partnership.
Mr Mitchell will see first-hand the impact of British investment
in Senegal, including how UK-funded projects are supporting women
and girls, and helping to build Senegal’s vaccine production
facilities to tackle the next pandemic.
Representing the UK at the Dakar 2 Feed Africa Summit, an
African-led initiative, the Minister will listen to African
leaders talk about the causes of rising food insecurity and hear
their vision for accelerating agricultural transformation, with
the aim of maximising the UK’s impact in alleviating food
shortages across the continent. The UK is working with regional
organisations like AGRA, Regional Economic Communities and the
Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to help strengthen
food trade in Africa.
Minister for Africa, , said:
“Many Brits know Senegal for its world-class football team.
They may not know that our partnership with Senegal reaps
benefits for people in both our countries, delivering economic
growth and tackling common security and health threats. We hope
to deepen this partnership over the long-term.
“As a leading supporter of the African Development Bank I am
delighted to participate in the Dakar 2: Feed Africa Summit on an
issue that we all need to work together on.
“With Russia’s war in Ukraine exacerbating the already
drastic impacts of regional conflict in Africa and climate change
on food security, I also want to hear directly from Macky Sall
and other African leaders about the issues the continent is
facing and understand how the UK can further support African
countries as we face those challenges, together.”
Senegal is a leading stable and democratic country in the region,
growing in significance and influence, and the UK hopes to build
a closer partnership and greater trade and investment ties over
the long-term.
Economic development is crucial to tackling challenges like food
insecurity and climate change and on his visit Mr Mitchell will
explore opportunities to expand UK investment into the country to
make a real and lasting positive impact. The UK-Africa
Investment Summit in 2020 announced 27 deals worth over £6.5bn
from across Africa. It also announced £9bn worth of investment
decisions.
During his visit, he will see the impact of such investment to
date, including a $1.7bn partnership between British
International Investment and DP World which features a new
container port at Ndayane, Senegal’s largest onshore investment.
The port will enable the creation of over 20,000 new jobs and
help unblock barriers to greater economic growth.
He will see the British Council’s landmark English Connects
programme and visit the Women’s Integrated Sexual Health
Programme (WISH) clinic where our delivery partner Marie Stopes
International is increasing access to voluntary family planning,
reaching those most in need.
will also visit Institut
Pasteur de Dakar to hear about their plans to develop vaccines
for Covid and other deadly diseases.
Notes to Editors
- Over 130 million people across Africa are in crisis levels of
food insecurity, with many under category IPC3+.
- Immediate concerns are the prospect of widespread famine in
the Horn of Africa, as well as areas experiencing conflict such
as the Sahel and countries exposed to the impact of climate
shocks such as Madagascar.
- If farmers are not able to access or afford fertiliser, there
is a risk that the food access crisis of 2022 will deepen and
continue this year and beyond. The African Development Bank
estimate that Africa could lose 20% of food production over the
next two harvesting seasons.
- The UK has supported $30bn of financing from the World Bank
and $1.5bn from African Development Bank set up to address the
increased food security risks across the continent.
