“The name of this Summit captures the moment – and the mission,” said. “Africa is not waiting. Africa is moving. Africa is in the lead.”
Drive debate, find solutions
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.”
He credited the continent’s leadership role in other areas, including passing the Pact for the Future, creating new tools for debt negotiations and challenging credit rating systems.
African leadership also helped secure the Seville Commitment on expanded lending by multilateral development banks and, together with small island states, put the climate emergency “at the center of the global agenda,” he added.
“This is not a continent waiting for solutions. This is a continent that produces them,” said. “But let’s be honest about what stands in Africa’s way.”
Old injustices persist
The Secretary-General pointed to “a global system designed without Africa and that still functions largely without Africa, perpetuating centuries-old injustices.”
Despite being home to more than 1.5 billion people, Africa has no permanent seats on the UN Security Council and has 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 because the voice of Africa is not properly taken into account,” said.
‘Crisis of solidarity’
He warned that meanwhile, official development assistance (ODA) is falling and aid budgets are being cut when needs are highest, representing “not just a financial crisis” but “a crisis of solidarity.”
Citing climate change, he emphasized that although “Africa did not cause it,” the continent is bearing the harshest consequences, such as displaced communities, food insecurity and economic crises.
“Africa must be at the center of climate justice,“said the Secretary-General, noting that although the continent has 60 percent of the world’s best solar potential, it receives only two percent of total investment in clean energy.
“With proper financing, Africa could generate ten times more electricity than it needs by 2040, entirely from renewable energy. Yet 600 million Africans live without electricity.”
Furthermore, one billion people still rely on harmful fuels for cooking, responsible for some 800,000 deaths a year, mostly women and children.
‘No more exploitation’
Africa also holds vast reserves of critical minerals needed for the global transition to “green” energy, but for too long its “resources have been extracted, the value captured elsewhere and the environmental damage left behind,” he said.
In this sense, the United Nations Panel on Critical Minerals for the Energy Transition points the way, promoting fair value chains, processing and manufacturing in the country and other actions that benefit communities.
“No more exploitation. No more looting,” said. “The people of Africa must benefit first and foremost from Africa’s resources.”
Young people take part in a campaign event for the eradication of FGM (female genital mutilation) in Afyafrica Kenya.
Partnership and investment
The Secretary-General also highlighted the need for an international partnership with Africa that is “based on equality, complementarity and mutual benefit.”
He called for co-investment in the industry, strengthening universities and research institutions and developing capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI), thereby shaping technology through the use of data, languages, researchers and systems, all African-owned.
The power of youth
The UN chief also focused on Africa’s growing youth population.
“The greatest transformation of this century is not a market: it is a generation,“He said, since by mid-century one in four people around the world will be African.
“The success of this continent is not just in Africa’s interest: it is in the world’s interest,” the Secretary-General said in concluding his remarks.
“Together, let us move Africa forward, with trust in its people, solidarity with its journey, and hope in our common future.“