The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, has called on African leaders to reduce their appetite for borrowing.
She has admonished leaders on the continent to rather devise innovative ways to attract and sustain investments into the continent.
According to her, until leadership of the continent realise the need to become self-reliant, member states will always lag behind without creating the room to harness their own development.
“We must take advantage of investment that comes to Africa and be able to sustain them for our own development,” she said at the Heads of State and Government breakfast dialogue held at the AU Commission headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday, February 16, 2025.
It was a side event of the AU Summit, and was held on the theme, Africa at the forefront: Mobilizing African Investment and Financing for Implementing Agenda 2063.
Hosted by Ghana’s President Mahama, it was held under the auspices of the Alliance of African Multilateral Financing Institutions, also called the African Club.
Present at the meeting were high level officials from various multilateral organizations within and outside the continent including the Chairperson of the Governing Council of the Alliance of African Multilateral Financing Institutions (AAMFI), and President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah.
Also present were the African Union High Representative for Financing of the Union and the Peace Fund, Dr Donald Kaberuku, the Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals at the AU, Ambassador Muchanga, amongst others.
Dr Iweala indicated that the continent could raise funding through value addition to natural resources, tapping into pension funds to raise patient capital to fund development and also pricing carbon emissions with innovative ways.
The high level panel discussion on “mobilizing African Investment and Financing for implementing agenda 2063”, highlighted key strategies and approaches for mobilizing African finance for delivering on Agenda 2063 priorities.
Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama, in his speech, reiterated the need for Africa to be self-reliant in fostering its development.
Mahama calls for African self-reliance in financing development
