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The Third Financing Summit for Africa’s Infrastructure Development Investors concluded in Luanda with a resounding success, as investors pledged USD 18 billion towards advancing critical 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 event brought together more than 2,000 participants, including African Heads of State, global investors, and development partners.
The Summit reaffirmed Africa’s collective commitment to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) — a flagship initiative designed to create a unified market for goods and services serving 1.4 billion people. The newly committed USD 18 billion will finance 38 bankable projects and 11 projects under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the AU’s strategic framework for regional and continental integration.
The Luanda Declaration on Infrastructure Development outlined a structural transformation in Africa’s approach to infrastructure financing. While acknowledging recent progress, leaders noted that a significant financing gap persists due to a shortage of viable, investment-ready projects.
To overcome this, the declaration commits to reforming financing mechanisms and addressing early-stage project risks — ensuring a steady pipeline of bankable projects capable of attracting both domestic and international investors.
A key component of the declaration is the commitment to leverage domestic institutional capital — including pension funds, sovereign wealth, and insurance assets — through AUDA-NEPAD’s 5% Agenda. This initiative encourages African institutional investors to allocate 5% of their assets under management toward infrastructure development.
The Summit achieved AUDA-NEPAD’s three primary goals:
- Closing investment deals,
- Securing governance commitments, and
- Mobilising African capital to bridge the continent’s annual infrastructure financing gap — estimated at USD 130–170 billion.
In the Summit’s “deal rooms,” investment opportunities totaling USD 43.9 billion were presented, including:
- USD 25 billion for transport corridors and logistics networks,
- USD 15 billion for power generation and interconnectors,
- USD 2.7 billion for water security, and
- USD 1.2 billion for digital infrastructure.
AUDA-NEPAD will now translate these commitments into action, beginning with 13 PIDA Priority Action Plan 2 projects, to be fast-tracked with support from the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions. The plan will be presented at the African Investment Forum in Morocco in December 2025.
Leaders reaffirmed their support for the Integrated Economic Corridor model — linking transport, energy, and digital networks with industrial hubs to drive continental trade. The AU and AUDA-NEPAD pledged to institutionalise this approach through a dedicated PIDA monitoring committee, ensuring accountability and peer review across member states.
Two immediate steps were announced to maintain momentum:
- Revitalising the Presidential Infrastructure Champions Initiative (PICI) to tackle cross-border bottlenecks.
- Developing a unified capital mobilisation strategy, to be presented for endorsement at the AU Summit in February 2026.
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The Luanda Declaration also urges multilateral development banks and international partners to improve financing conditions by exploring debt restructuring and re-channeling Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to free fiscal space for infrastructure investment.
The declaration, leaders affirmed, represents Africa’s transition from political will to coordinated, practical action, mandating the AUC and AUDA-NEPAD to draft an implementation roadmap for the Summit’s commitments.
