French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé has affirmed that his country and South Africa can together help Africa as a whole to progress. He pointed out that Africans will soon account for 25% of the global population. “I believe that the dialogue between France and South Africa is a major asset. Today, South Africa has a major role to play in shaping our world.”

“South Africa, this great dynamic, modern country ... [is] a symbol of the dynamic new Africa,” he asserted in an address to the South African Institute of International Affairs at Jan Smuts House in Johannesburg on Thursday evening. “Our two countries, France and South Africa, must continue to show the way forward to help Africa to forge a new destiny for its people.”

He also hailed the role of the African Union (AU). “In ten years, the AU has become an indispensable player. We want Africa to be able to achieve its goals. A strategic partnership between the AU and EU [European Union] can help us achieve these aims.”

“Africa’s destiny is more than ever bound up with that of Europe and the world,” he stated, “and two stories are emerging – the Africa that is becoming democratic, prosperous and the Africa still mired in war and poverty. I believe that the countries that opt for human rights and democracy have chosen the right path forward.”

He identified a number of challenges common to both Europe and Africa. One of these is development, with a focus on education, health and the reduction of poverty. The progress of other continents has been such that Africa now contains 66% of the world’s developing countries. “We must diversify African economies, to make them less vulnerable and less volatile,” he said. “We have increased our development aid to Africa by more than 41% since 2004.”

A second challenge is climate change. (South Africa will soon be hosting the seventeenth Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – better known as COP 17.) “France and the EU are willing to help South Africa make this meeting a success,” assured Juppé. He pointed out that poor countries are most vulnerable to climate change, and that this challenge embraced such issues as water management – while recognising that much of South Africa is arid, he cited the Niger basin as an example.

Another climate change-related issue is energy. He mentioned France’s support for the financing of South Africa’s new Medupi coal-fired power station, now under construction. But Africa, he added, must reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, and gave South Africa’s nuclear power plans as an example of an alternative approach. “The Fukushima disaster does not call this choice into question,” he asserted, although, he pointed out, it does show the need for increased vigilance and the adoption of third generation technologies.