Over 500 delegates, including Heads of State, Ministers of Finance, Central Bank Governors, development partners, and civil society organizations gathered in Lomé for the inaugural African Union Debt Conference, held under the theme “Africa’s Public Debt Management Agenda: Restoring and Safeguarding Debt Sustainability.”

The three-day conference was convened by the African Union Commission in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Togo, under the High Patronage of Faure Gnassingbé, President of the council of Ministers of the Republic of Togo, who opened the session by calling for a “collective African ambition that prioritizes sovereignty, solidarity, and regional stability.” He urged participants to rethink global debt rules and emphasized that “debt, when used strategically and responsibly, must serve as a tool for the common good.”

In his opening remarks, Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), warned that “Africa is not merely facing a debt crisis—it is confronting a development crisis.” He outlined five imperatives to restore fiscal sovereignty and turn Africa’s debt into a lever for transformation.