Africa Urged to Boost Finance, Integration Amid Global Economic Shifts

Speaking at the opening session of the 48th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU) at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, Gatete said African foreign ministers are meeting at "a time of profound economic transition," characterised by a slowing global growth and intensifying trade tensions, while supply chains are being re-organised, Xinhua News Agency reported.

"We are witnessing a transition to a world economy organized around industrial strategy, geopolitical competition and control of key resources. In short, the rules of development are changing," Gatete said.

Noting that capital has become more expensive and development assistance is declining, the UNECA chief said these economic challenges are further exacerbated by a worsening security situation and persistent climate change.

Gatete warned that developing countries' reliance on external partners, characterised by the export of raw commodities, import of manufactured goods, and finance through concessional flows, is no longer viable.

"The implication for Africa is clear -- our development can no longer depend primarily on external conditions. It must increasingly be organized around our own continental economic system," Gatete said.

To effectively navigate a complex global economic context, Gatete called African countries to harness and add value to the continent's natural resources.

The UNECA chief proposed five priority actions for the continent's collective attention, namely mobilizing and managing development finance more effectively, investing in integrated productive infrastructure, accelerating value addition through regional value chains under the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, deepening continental market integration, and harnessing technology and data as economic infrastructure.

The executive council meeting, attended by foreign ministers from AU members under the framework of the 39th AU Summit, is being held under the AU's 2026 theme: "Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063."

- IANS