Déclarations à la presse de Jean-Noël Barrot, ministre de l’Europe et des affaires étrangères, à l’occasion de l’événement Création Africa (Lagos, 17 octobre 2025)

Hello, everyone. This is Lagos. This is the second edition of the Forum Création Africa. What's this forum ? It's the largest forum dedicated to creative and cultural industries on the African continent. This is the second edition. The first edition took place in France last year. And when President Macron met President Tinubu, who was visiting France last year, he promised that the second edition would take place in Lagos. And this is it. We are there, and we're seeing a very large participation of creative talents coming from all over Africa. A thousand participants coming from 42 countries. 80 of these participants, creators, are from Nigeria. And I've seen a lot of talent and energy in video games, XR, webtoons, cinema, digital design, et cetera. I'm very proud that we have supported and contributed to this success because France is at the forefront of creative and cultural industries in Europe, when Nigeria is at the forefront of these industries in Africa, so there is a lot we can achieve together by bringing the talents, bringing the energies, bringing the creators, entrepreneurs together in the same place, in the same room like we're doing today in Lakeland.

Q - So how does this impact of diplomacy between Nigeria and France ?

R - So the relationship between Nigeria and France has probably never been as intense with a lot of visits. President Macron came in 2018 here in Nigeria. President Tinubu was in France last year. And since then, since they decided to build a partnership of equals, serving the strategic autonomy of both countries, there has been a huge amount of interaction between administrations, companies, civil society in France and in Nigeria. I've hosted eight Nigerian governors in April at the Foreign Affairs Ministry of France. I have more recently hosted Davido himself in the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs when he performed at the end of the day dedicated to African talents that we hosted in Paris, and the closure of which was happening at my ministry. And today in Nigeria, I came to showcase the breadth of the cooperation between our two countries. We've just integrated the Omi Eko project which is going to deliver decarbonized water transportation to Lagos to reduce transportation time, to reduce transportation budget for Lagosians with 75 electric boats, 15 new routes, 140 kilometers of service which will help the city resist against the rising sea level and also reduce the carbon footprint with 41.000 tons of CO2 suppressed with this project that we are supporting with the European Union with 410 million euros. Second example, I've inaugurated the renovation of our French lycée, our French school here in Lagos serving French citizens but also Nigerian citizens in a great and beautiful campus. Third example, the first or the largest ever organized exhibition on Fela Kuti that opened its doors four days ago here in Lagos after it was showcased in Paris. We supported it and I will finish my visit here in Nigeria there with the Kuti family. So, from culture to economy to infrastructure, the cooperation is accelerating and delivering tangible results.

Q - Un commentaire aujourd'hui s'il vous plaît sur le Sénégal, un rapport a été remis à la présidence sénégalaise sur le massacre de Thiaroye, qui a été prémédité et sous-estimé, est-ce que le ministère…

R - Le 1er décembre dernier, à la demande du président de la République, je me suis rendu à Thiaroye à l'occasion du 80e anniversaire du massacre pour mettre des mots justes, ceux que le président de la République avait choisis, sur ce qu'il s'est passé ce moment-là. Pourquoi ? Parce que la France ne détourne pas les yeux de sa propre histoire et a engagé avec le Sénégal, mais aussi avec un certain nombre d'autres pays africains, un travail de mémoire. Nous allons prendre connaissance de ce rapport et nous nous tenons prêts à coopérer avec le Sénégal, les autorités sénégalaises le savent, pour que les travaux de recherche puissent et éclairer ce qui s'est passé ce jour-là.

Q - The impact of AI on creative economy in Nigeria and Africa as a whole, I wanted to talk about that.

R - Technology is one field where France, Nigeria, Europe, Africa have a lot to achieve together. We have a common vision of development, of the importance of multilateralism, the importance of international law for all topics that spread over borders, over boundaries, over continents. So, we want to work together both to innovate and create our own tools to build our strategic autonomy, but also to find the right regulation, not a regulation that will inhibit innovation, but a regulation that will prevent that technology is misused and threatens our interests.

Q - Monsieur le Ministre, à Madagascar, le colonel Michaël Randrianirina a pris le pouvoir, il a été investi ce matin, alors quelle est la position de la France par rapport à cette prise de pouvoir par l'armée à Madagascar ?

R - La France était représentée, ainsi que d'autres pays européens, lors de la cérémonie d'investiture du nouveau président. Il a exprimé sa volonté d'engager une transition pour aller vers une solution pacifique, une solution durable, une solution respectueuse de l'aspiration du peuple malgache, avec des élections et un retour à terme vers la légalité constitutionnelle. Nous nous tenons prêts, avec ses organisations régionales, à soutenir les nouvelles autorités malgaches dans cet effort, en les appelant bien sûr à tenir compte de l'aspiration démocratique qui a été exprimée par la jeunesse de Madagascar, avec beaucoup de conviction et avec beaucoup de force ces dernières semaines.

Q - Can you tell some words about (inaudible) because between France and Kenya (inaudible)

R - We're working very closely with Kenya. And you know why ? Because we're getting ready for a major event that will take place in Nairobi on May 11th and 12th, 2026. And this is the Africa Forward Summit. The Africa-France Summit that France and Kenya are preparing together. It will be an important moment to show how deep the cooperation is and how far we can go together. There will be a very large business forum to which I have already invited the France-Nigeria Business Council, that is a very important forum to deepen the relationship between our two economies, we've invited them, but with the with this summit that will take place in Kenya, we'll be preparing the discussions between heads of States and Governments to find solutions to what the people in Africa are expecting, energy, climate change, agriculture, infrastructure, digital, all of these topics will be on the table to find tangible features.