Morocco is preparing to seek partners and investors for a much-anticipated large-scale green hydrogen project that’ll be able to export to Europe, Energy Transition Minister Leila Benali said.
(Bloomberg) — Morocco is preparing to seek partners and investors for a much-anticipated large-scale green hydrogen project that’ll be able to export to Europe, Energy Transition Minister Leila Benali said.
“The work is nearly done,” she said at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa forum in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Tuesday. “The prime minister has announced that we will make the hydrogen offer public before the end of the year.”
Morocco is attracting growing interest from investors looking to export the green fuel to the European Union, given its geographical proximity and free trade agreement with the bloc.
Rugby Africa Calls for Greater Investment in Sport (June 13, 2:23 p.m.)
When it comes to sport, Africa’s biggest problem isn’t producing great athletes — who often come from the continent — but providing economic incentives for them to perform at home.
“The key is to bring investment back into Africa,” Herbert Mensah, president of Rugby Africa, said in an onstage interview on Tuesday. “The potential in Africa is massive. At the end of the day it’s all about money.”
Sports can play an important social role on the world’s youngest continent. “If you’ve got young people involved in sports, they’re not going to get up to mischief,” he said.
AFC Nears $500 Million Climate Fund (June 13, 12:03 p.m.)
AFC Capital Partners secured $300 million led by the United Nations-backed Green Climate Fund, and plans to close an initial $500 million phase of an infrastructure-resilience fund by early 2024.
The organization, part of the Lagos, Nigeria-based Africa Finance Corp., is seeking cash to address the continent’s urgent need for stronger roads and bridges, more resilient ports and irrigation to withstand extreme weather caused by climate change.
“Africa has a huge infrastructure deficit,” AFC Capital CEO Ayaan Zeinab Adam said in an interview Tuesday at the Morocco forum. “We are also having to climate-proof that infrastructure.”
Fortescue Touts Africa Potential (June 13, 10.46 a.m.)
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. sees “huge potential” for renewable-resources projects in African nations to help them deal with the effects of climate change, Chairman Andrew Forrest said.
The mining company is looking at opportunities in Mauritania and projects across Morocco, Forrest said in an interview at the forum.
“For those companies and those governments who are not listening, particularly to the people of North Africa who know this is their shot, this is their time to be supported,” he said. “Let’s get in behind Africa, let’s give this beautiful continent its shot.”
African Nations Target Common Currency (June 13, 10 a.m.)
African nations are intent on introducing a common currency, which will help cut the cost of doing business on the continent, according to an official who’s spearheading efforts for a regional free-trade agreement.
“There is an objective to have a common currency,” Wamkele Mene, the secretary-general of the African Continental Free Trade Area, said in an interview. A single platform for African trade “will place us on a path to a common currency that we will all want to see one day.”
An accord that establishes the world’s biggest free-trade zone by area became operational in January 2021, has been ratified by 47 of 55 African nations, and is set to kick into full gear in 2030. “We have to move fast as a continent because we are 50 years behind, 70 years behind,” Mene said.
–With assistance from Matthew Hill, Jennifer Zabasajja and Mike Cohen.
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