The third Financing Summit for Africa’s Infrastructure Development Investors in Luanda, Angola, has concluded with investors pledging $18 billion to support key infrastructure projects across the continent.
Co-hosted by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) under the theme “Capital, Corridors, Trade: Investing in Infrastructure for the AfCFTA and Shared Prosperity”, the three-day gathering brought together around 2 000 African leaders, investors and development partners.
The funds will be directed towards 38 bankable projects and 11 initiatives under the AU’s Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), aimed at addressing the continent’s estimated annual infrastructure gap of $130–170 billion.
Speaking at the summit, AUDA-NEPAD Chief Executive Officer Nardos Bekele-Thomas said: “For too long, Africa’s immense financial resources, our savings, sovereign wealth and institutional capital – have been passive in our own development. That chapter is now being closed.”
AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy Lerato Mataboge added: “Luanda has demonstrated the spirit of pan-African leadership, united purpose and visionary determination. Africa can, and will, plan, finance and deliver the foundation of its own prosperity.”
The summit highlighted the importance of cross-border infrastructure, focusing on transport corridors, power interconnectors, water security and digital networks. Discussions in the summit’s deal rooms covered projects worth $43.9 billion, including $25 billion for transport, $15 billion for energy, $2.7 billion for water, and $1.2 billion for digital infrastructure.
A major outcome of the summit is a shift in financing approach, designed to create a continuous pipeline of viable projects. African institutional investors are being encouraged to allocate 5% of their assets to infrastructure under AUDA-NEPAD’s 5% Agenda, unlocking domestic capital for development.
Leaders also endorsed the Integrated Economic Corridor approach, linking logistics, energy and digital networks to drive regional growth. Measures to strengthen accountability include the creation of a PIDA monitoring committee and the revitalisation of the Presidential Infrastructure Champions Initiative to tackle bottlenecks in cross-border projects.
Summit participants called on multilateral development banks and international partners to ease financing conditions, explore debt restructuring, and mobilise special drawing rights to free up funds for infrastructure.
Bekele-Thomas and Mataboge concluded that the summit had turned commitments into concrete plans, ensuring that every vision is translated into a viable project and that African infrastructure delivers tangible benefits to citizens.
–ChannelAfrica–
