Guterres highlights Africa’s leadership in speech to summit in Nairobi 

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Africa continues to advance and demands investment at scale, justice in global systems, and partnerships grounded in respect, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday.

The UN chief was speaking at the opening of the Africa Forward Summit, co-hosted in Nairobi by Kenyan President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron. 

“The name of this Summit captures the moment – and the mission,” he said.  “Africa is not waiting. Africa is moving. Africa is leading.” 

Driving debate, finding solutions 

Mr. Guterres highlighted how Africa is driving the debate around reforming global financial institutions that were “designed in 1945 for a world that no longer exists.” 

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He credited the continent’s leading role in other areas, including getting the Pact for the Future approved, building new tools for debt negotiations, and challenging credit ratings systems. 

African leadership also helped to secure the Sevilla Commitment on expanding lending by multilateral development banks, and alongside small island States, put the climate emergency “at the centre of the global agenda,” he added. 

“This is not a continent waiting for solutions. This is a continent producing them,” he said.  “But let us be honest about what stands in Africa’s way.” 

Old injustices persist 

The Secretary-General pointed to “a global system designed without Africa – and still largely operating without Africa, perpetuating century-old injustices.” 

Despite being home to more than 1.5 billion people, Africa has no permanent seats on the UN Security Council and limited decision-making power within the international financial institutions that shape its economy. 

“It is not Africa that loses. It is the world that loses by the fact that the voice of Africa is not conveniently taken into account,” he said. 

‘Crisis of solidarity’ 

He warned that meanwhile, official development assistance (ODA) is falling and aid budgets are being cut when needs are at their highest, representing “not only a financing crisis” but “a crisis of solidarity.”

Citing climate change, he emphasised that although “Africa did not cause it”, the continent is bearing the harshest consequences such as displaced communities, food insecurity and economic shocks. 

“Africa must be at the centre of climate justice,” the Secretary-General said, noting that even though the continent holds 60 per cent of the world’s best solar potential, it receives only two per cent of overall clean energy investment 

“With the right finance, Africa could generate ten times more electricity than it needs by 2040 – entirely from renewables. Yet, 600 million Africans live without electricity.” 

Furthermore, a billion people there still rely on unclean cooking fuels, responsible for some 800,000 deaths annually, mostly women and children. 

‘No more exploitation’ 

Africa also holds vast reserves of the critical minerals needed for the global transition to “green” energy, but for too long its “resources have been extracted, the value captured elsewhere, the environmental damage left behind,” he said. 

In this regard, the UN Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals points the way, promoting fair value chains, in-country processing and manufacturing, and other actions that benefit communities. 

“No more exploitation. No more plundering,” he said.  “The people of Africa must benefit, first and most, from the resources of Africa.” 

Partnership and investment

The Secretary-General also stressed the need for international partnership with Africa that is “built on equality, complementarity, and mutual benefit.” 

He called for co-investment in industry, strengthening universities and research institutions, and building capacity in artificial intelligence (AI), thus shaping the technology by using data, languages, researchers and systems – all African-owned. 

The power of youth 

The UN chief also focused on Africa’s burgeoning youth population.   

“The largest transformation of this century is not a market – it is a generation,” he said, as by mid-century one in four people worldwide will be African.  

“The success of this continent is not Africa’s interest alone – it is the world’s,” the Secretary-General said, concluding his remarks. 

“Together, let us move Africa Forward – with confidence in its people, solidarity with its journey, and hope for our common future.”