Future Africa hosts French Deputy Director for Global Affairs for guest lecture on shared global challenges

On 17 June 2025, Future Africa at the University of Pretoria (UP) hosted Mr Jean-Sébastien Conty, Deputy Director for Global Affairs at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for a guest lecture titled “Taking Initiatives & Bridging the Gap: France Contributions to Face Main Global Challenges.”

The event was held in partnership with the Joint Office of the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), based at Future Africa.

In her opening remarks, Professor Wanda Markotter, Interim Director of Future Africa, welcomed the audience and reflected on the platform’s role in convening diverse voices.

“It’s not just academics in the room, it’s policymakers, diplomats, industry and youth. That’s what Future Africa is about,” she said. “This lecture series is about partnerships, research, and carrying forward the conversations we started at Africa Week 2025.”

Mr Conty, who has served in senior diplomatic roles in Brussels, Washington, and Paris, reflected on the importance of international cooperation in addressing urgent global issues such as climate change, vaccine equity, food security, and gender justice.

“Taking initiatives and bridging the gap to face global challenges is more urgent than ever,” he said. “The future of our planet is at stake, and we share the responsibility to shape and support it. But international cooperation is being challenged. One of the most critical areas is the fight against climate change.”

He highlighted France’s €700 million concessional loan contribution to South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), part of a broader €1 billion commitment to support a fair and inclusive shift away from coal dependency.

“We must never ask countries to choose between lifting their populations out of poverty and safeguarding the global commons,” he added. “That’s the principle behind our pact for People and Planet.”

Beyond climate change, Mr Conty emphasised France’s key partnerships in health and food systems. He referenced collaboration with the African Union and Gavi at the 2024 Vaccine Innovation Summit, France’s support for the One Health approach, and the International Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM), an initiative aimed at strengthening local agricultural systems across Africa.

The lecture also placed strong emphasis on France’s feminist foreign policy, introduced in 2019 and reaffirmed in 2024. Through the French Support Fund for Feminist Organisations, over €215 million has supported more than 1 400 organisations in 75 countries, including projects in South Africa and Lesotho focused on women’s empowerment, reproductive health education, and prevention of gender-based violence.

“Science is being questioned. Facts are sometimes treated as opinion,” Mr Conty concluded. “That’s why your voice, as researchers and academics, matters. We must rise to these global challenges together.”