Europe, Japan and Africa: Facing up together to Africa’s infrastructure challenges

Africa’s future largely hangs on whether it can deal with its massive infrastructure deficit. The good news: digital infrastructure has made great progress, with telecommunications coverage expanding at a fast pace across both low- and middle-income countries. The bad: only 35% of the population has access to electricity, with a huge urban-rural divide. Both the EU and Japan recognise that massive and immediate investment in infrastructure in Africa is the only way to create the backbone needed to foster agricultural and industrial development, create jobs and promote sustainable growth; and linking up their multi-faceted development actions could bring huge benefits.