Billions on the Table: Africa’s Top Leaders to Convene in Angola to Close Infrastructure Gap
The African Union (AU), its development agency AUDA-NEPAD, and the Angolan government are set to host what is expected to be one of the most significant infrastructure investment gatherings on the continent this year.
The Third African Infrastructure Development Financing Summit, scheduled for 28 to 31 October in Luanda, aims to mobilise unprecedented levels of capital to close Africa’s infrastructure funding gap and boost trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
According to Africa Intelligence, the high-level meeting will be overseen by Angolan President and current AU Chair João Lourenço. It will bring together several African heads of state including Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and more than a thousand political and business leaders from across the world to mobilise billions for transport, energy and technology projects designed to power the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
“This is a calculated effort to redefine how Africa funds, governs and implements the projects that will determine the success of its continental free trade area and its economic future,” says Africa Intelligence.
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The summit comes amid an urgent push to bridge Africa’s vast infrastructure financing gap. While the continent needs between $130bn and $170bn annually, it currently secures only about $80bn.
AUDA-NEPAD, led by Nardos Bekele-Thomas, has been courting African investors, including the new Alliance of Multilateral African Financial Institutions launched in February 2024 alongside Afreximbank.
Business leaders from Dangote Group, Arab Contractors, MTN, Sonatrach, Sonangol, and major banks such as Ecobank, UBA, Nedbank and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia are expected at the summit. They will join Western partners like the World Bank, IMF, and Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, alongside non-Western financiers such as ChinaEximbank, the Saudi Fund and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
At the political level, presidential dialogues will map out strategies for high-impact trade corridors, cross-border governance and African-led capital mobilisation. Confirmed invitees include leaders from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Rwanda, Ethiopia and several others. Former Nigerien president Mahamadou Issoufou is also expected in his contested role as AfCFTA “champion.”
Lourenço announced the summit at the BRICS meeting in Brazil last July, underscoring its alignment with the Global South’s rising economic agenda. For Angola, the AU, and Africa’s financial partners, the stakes are clear: unlocking the funding and political will to turn the AfCFTA’s promise into an economic reality.
By PRNigeria
