<\/p>\n
The summit, co-hosted by the Kenyan Presidency and the French Presidency, was framed as a platform to push financing reforms, expand investment at scale, and strengthen partnerships built on respect.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Guterres said Africa is driving global debates on reforming institutions shaped for a 1945 world, with Africa now pushing debt negotiation tools, challenging credit rating practices, and advancing commitments to expand multilateral development bank lending.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Guterres warned that structural exclusion remains a central obstacle. Despite a population exceeding 1.5 billion, Africa has no permanent seat on the UN Security Council and limited influence in major international financial institutions, Guterres said, arguing that diminished African voice harms global decision-making.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A warning was issued on declining aid flows. Official development assistance is falling while needs are rising, the Guterres said, describing current cuts as a financing crisis and a crisis of solidarity.
\nClimate impacts were highlighted as a defining pressure point.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Africa contributed least to the climate emergency but faces severe consequences, including displacement, food insecurity, and economic shocks, Guterres said. Despite holding 60% of global solar potential, Africa receives only 2%of clean energy investment, Guterres said. With adequate finance, renewables could generate 10 times the electricity needed by 2040, Guterres said, yet 600 million people remain without electricity and 1 billion people still rely on unclean cooking fuels linked to 800 000 deaths annually, mostly women and children.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Guterres also called for fair value chains for critical minerals, arguing that extraction without local value capture has left environmental harm behind. The UN panel on critical energy transition minerals was cited as a pathway toward in-country processing, manufacturing, and community benefit.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The speech closed with emphasis on Africa\u2019s youth. By mid-century, 1 in 4 people globally will be African, Guterres said, describing the continent\u2019s success as central to global stability and prosperity.<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34407,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44,26],"class_list":["post-34406","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Africa is accelerating economic ambition and demanding fairer rules in global systems, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General said on Tuesday at the opening of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi.","published_date":"","news_description":"Africa is accelerating economic ambition and demanding fairer rules in global systems, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General said on Tuesday at the opening of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34408,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34406\/revisions\/34408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=34406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}