Staff Writer
The Third Financing Summit for Africa’s Infrastructure Development took place in Luanda this week, with African leaders calling for stronger action to close the continent’s infrastructure financing gap and unlock its potential as a global growth engine.
In his opening remarks, Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, who also chairs the African Union (AU), said Africa must invest between US$130 billion and US$170 billion annually to build the foundation for sustainable growth.
“We must move from words to action,” Lourenço urged. “This summit represents a decisive step toward mobilising the resources needed to enhance connectivity and integration across our continent.”
The summit was co-hosted by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) under the theme “Capital, Corridors, Trade: Investing in Infrastructure for the AfCFTA and Shared Prosperity.”
It aimed to accelerate bankable projects that will support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a market of 1.4 billion people.
African Union Commission chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said Africa is entering a new era of self-determination, where the continent must take ownership of financing, planning, and implementing its development goals.
He said infrastructure investment is not just technical but also strategic and key to Africa’s economic sovereignty, competitiveness, and unity. He called for stronger domestic resource mobilisation, greater private sector participation, and increased access to climate funds to drive infrastructure growth.
Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, reported progress since the last summit in Dakar, Senegal. She said the AU and African financial institutions have raised US$1.5 billion for cross-border projects.
“The lesson from Dakar is clear: we can no longer treat financing as a fragmented market of scattered deals. We must transform it into a unified strategy,” she said.
Bekele-Thomas also highlighted new financial instruments such as the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa’s Project Development Fund, which has achieved a first close of US$118 million and is managed by Africa50.
The Luanda Summit moved from discussions to concrete action, marked by the signing of three key Memoranda of Understanding.
These include a partnership between the African Social Security Association and AUDA-NEPAD to channel African pension funds into infrastructure, an agreement with Qatar Airways establishing a US$500 million endowment for renewable energy and climate-aligned industrialisation, and the creation of the Angola Export and Trade Facility to promote regional trade.
The Summit also featured investor “deal rooms”, where financiers met project developers for 13 advanced, near-bankable projects in energy, ICT, water, and transport. These sessions aimed to fast-track projects to financial close through detailed due diligence and structured investment discussions.
