Africa is poised to play a great role in the new world order that has been created by the global financial crisis, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel told the international policy summit “Outlook Africa: Investing in Africa’s growth and health”, and it is in Europe´s interests to help it to do so.

But Europe faces a number of challenges in maintaining its commitment to Africa, including tension over its Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), competition from other donors such as China and India and failures of governance and transparency in African countries. "The main lesson for Africa from the financial crisis is that Africa´s development must be less dependent on the rest of the world," said Charles Dan, Regional Director for Africa of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

"It is vital that Africans are in charge of their own future," added Jean-François Lasalle, Vice President Public Affairs, Exploration and Production at Total. The development of infrastructure is vital to drive economic growth, with lack of electricity the number 1 constraint on growth, the summit heard. "Despite the crisis, Africa needs a strong pipeline of projects so that it can benefit when the world economy emerges from the downturn", said Thierry de Longuemar, Vice President for Finance of the African Development Bank (AfDB). “Africa has a resource gap in infrastructure of $80bn,” he added. "If that can be filled, it will boost growth by 40%."

Health infrastructure is one of the most pressing areas, with urgent attention needed to deal with a number of issues ranging from HIV/AIDS to maternal mortality. Despite the enormous challenges, however, the growing number of success stories in both the public and private sectors should not be forgotten.

Speakers included:

• Louis Michel, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid
• João Aguiar Machado, European Commission Deputy Director General for Trade and Chief Negotiator for the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)
• Lene Andersen, Vice President, Global Diabetes Partnerships, Novo Nordisk
• Helena Bambasová, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic
• Alain Champeaux, Senior Vice President for Africa & Middle East, Refining and Marketing, Total
• Charles Dan, Regional Director for Africa, the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
• Thierry de Longuemar, Vice President for Finance, the African Development Bank (AfDB)
• Luís Gomes Sambo, Regional Director for Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO)
• Pekka Haavisto MP, Finnish Foreign Minister's Special Envoy for African Horn and Sudan, Former Minister for Environment and Development Cooperation and Former EU Special Representative to Sudan
• Dana Hovig, Chief Executive Officer of Marie Stopes International
• Michael Keating, Director of the Africa Progress Panel (APP)
• Stefano Manservisi, European Commission Director General for Development
• Jean-François Lassalle, Vice President Public Affairs, Exploration & Production, Total
• Akere Muna, Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Transparency International (TI), and Founder and Former President of TI in Cameroon
• James Musoni, Rwanda's Minister for Finance and Economic Planning
• Vittorio Prodi MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with South Africa
• Andreas Proksch, Director General for Africa, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) 
• Robert Tortora, Regional Research Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, Gallup
• Koen Vervaeke, Head of Delegation, EU Special Representative to the African Union