Strategic thinking is evident in the plan announced by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker for an Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Development and Jobs. It proposes a 25 per cent increase in EU spending on Africa to €40 billion, concentrating on education, freer trade and infrastructure, alongside ambitious financing of employment creation by small and medium-sized firms.

The Saint Lucia Tourism Authority has successfully hosted its eighth annual Showcase, 10th-14th September 2018 for more than 150 UK travel industry specialists. To introduce the programme, the Minister for Tourism, Information and Broadcasting announced the launch of a new National Tourism Advisory Committee, with the aim of creating a common platform for best practice in sustainable tourism for the island.

Event: Under the Paris agreement, countries committed to delivering certain mitigation and adaptation actions, however few developing countries set out detailed plans for financing these actions, with many highlighting that the shortfall between planned actions and public finance available (domestic and from international sources such as the GCF) would be provided by ‘the private sector’.

EU financial support for the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) has had a poor effect and needs refocusing, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors. For many years, the APSA has been heavily dependent on donor funding and EU support has been focusing on contributing to its basic operational costs rather than on capacity-building measures, say the auditors.

French Telecoms company, Orange (www.Orange.com) and leading West African Connectivity and Data Centre services provider, MainOne (www.MainOne.net) have struck a partnership that will see the French telecoms giant co-invest in two new cable landing stations in Dakar, Senegal and Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire while the broadband infrastructure provider will provide additional capacity via its 7000km cable system from Europe to Africa with landing stations in Nigeria, Ghana and Portugal, reinforcing the position of both companies in the African telecommunications ecosystem.