The investment would take up half of the EU’s
300-billion-euro Global Gateway scheme, which was launched in December with the
aim of strengthening Europe’s supply chains and fighting climate change in
sectors including health, energy and transport. read more
It comes as many European states seek to reduce illegal
migration from Africa, driven in part by poverty and joblessness, and as fossil
fuel producers in Africa bristle against the strict carbon reduction goals set
by richer nations to reduce global warming.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced
the regional plan at a news conference in Dakar with Senegalese President Macky
Sall.
How the funds will be disbursed or spent is not yet clear.
At the launch of the Gateway fund in December, the EU said
the money would come in the form of grants, loans or guarantees from EU
institutions, governments, EU financial institutions and national development
banks.
An EU source said the 150 billion could come in payments of
20 billion per year, of which only 6 billion would come from EU funds and the
rest from EU states and private investors.
China launched its Belt and Road project in 2013 to boost
trade links with the rest of the world, and has been spending heavily on the
development of infrastructure in dozens of countries around the world, not
least in Africa.
EU officials say the financing terms offered by Beijing are often unfavourable and opaque, and make some poorer countries, especially in Africa, dependent on China through debt.