Sidi Ould Tah, President of the African Development Bank Group, convened a pivotal high-level working session, on 15 February, with the heads of Africa’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on the margins of the 39th African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa.
The session focused on the New African Financial Architecture (NAFA), a home-grown, transformative framework aimed at mobilising large-scale domestic capital, strengthening financial sovereignty, and addressing the continent’s persistent development financing gap.
It brought together Chief Executive Officers from the AU-recognised RECs, namely the Arab Maghreb Union, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Community of Sahel-Saharan States, Economic Community of Central African States, Economic Community of West African States, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and Southern Africa Development Community — alongside the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.
In his opening remarks, Ould Tah stressed the need to urgently close Africa’s development financing gap by moving beyond fragmented systems toward a coordinated architecture that will unlock Africa’s capital power, rebuild financial sovereignty, support jobs for youth and scale transformative infrastructure investments while promoting industrialisation.
“NAFA is not just a financial plan. It is a blueprint for Africa’s economic transformation. It points to a future where Africa finances its development on its terms, through collaboration, coherence, and leadership,” Ould Tah said.
As a vital pillar of Ould Tah’s “Four Cardinal Points” strategic vision, NAFA serves as the primary engine for reforming Africa’s financial systems and amplifying its unified voice in the global arena. This meeting marks a decisive step in aligning regional priorities with a locally anchored financial model to drive sustainable growth and resilience across the continent.
