At the Luanda Financing Summit, the message from Africa’s leadership was unmistakable: the continent no longer seeks validation for its ambitions—it seeks velocity.
Hosted under the patronage of Angolan President João Lourenço, who also serves as Chairperson of the African Union, the Third Infrastructure Financing Summit for Africa’s Development marked a critical juncture in Africa’s march toward self-financed, self-directed integration.
From Talk to Traction
Two years ago, at the Dakar Financing Summit, Africa’s policymakers and financiers identified 22 strategic regional PIDA projects valued at $52 billion. In Luanda, AUDA-NEPAD Chief Executive HE Nardos Bekele-Thomas reminded delegates that this time, progress was measurable.
“When Africa is clear, capital moves. When Africa is structured, partners come. When Africa owns delivery, projects advance,” she declared.
Several flagship projects have moved beyond the planning stage. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (Phase II) secured $168 million; the Luapula Hydropower Project advanced with a $4.2 million grant for project preparation; and the Standard Gauge Railway to eastern DRC received nearly $700 million in new financing. The Abidjan–Lagos Corridor, one of the continent’s busiest trade routes, now commands investor commitments exceeding $15.6 billion.
Equally significant is the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA)—a partnership between AUDA-NEPAD, the African Development Bank, and Africa50—which has reached a first close of $118 million. Its mandate: fund early-stage, climate-resilient infrastructure to accelerate bankability and unlock long-term green capital.
Infrastructure as Destiny
Africa’s infrastructure deficit costs the continent up to two percentage points of GDP growth annually and slashes productivity by as much as 40 per cent. These statistics translate into a human toll: 600 million people without electricity, costly logistics that erode competitiveness, and border delays that stifle the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
In Luanda, the conversation shifted decisively toward execution. The African Union’s continental frameworks—the African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM), the Continental Power Systems Master Plan, the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), and the Digital Transformation Strategy (DTS)—are moving from policy abstractions to tangible corridors of trade, energy, and data.
Energy access remains central. The African Union projects an increase in electricity access from 48 per cent in 2023 to 80 per cent by 2040, alongside a doubling of renewables to 50 per cent of the power mix. Meanwhile, the African Integrated High-Speed Railway Network and Lobito Corridor exemplify the transport dimension of this vision—reducing costs, expanding mobility, and linking Africa’s mineral wealth to regional value chains.
Financing the Future—On African Terms
Perhaps the most striking takeaway from Luanda was the continental pivot toward unified capital. AUDA-NEPAD unveiled plans for a Project Financing Facility with an initial envelope of $1.5 billion, including $100 million dedicated to project preparation. The facility, backed by the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), aims to harmonize financing and reduce the fragmentation that has long plagued infrastructure funding.
Delegates also endorsed the 5 Percent Agenda, an initiative urging African pension funds, sovereign wealth vehicles, and DFIs to allocate a small portion of their portfolios toward domestic infrastructure. If implemented continent-wide, this could mobilize tens of billions of dollars annually—a step toward making “African capital serve African connectivity.”
Bekele-Thomas emphasized that dependence on external actors to define Africa’s risk and price its assets “must end.” Instead, she called for an autonomous delivery authority—a treaty-backed governance body capable of enforcing standards, monitoring milestones, and insulating critical projects from political shifts.
Digital, Green, and Borderless
Beyond the physical infrastructure agenda, the Luanda Summit underscored the new pillars of African development: digitalisation, decarbonization, and integration.
The Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020–2030) aims to establish a continent-wide digital single market. With internet penetration rising from 28 percent in 2020 to 38 percent in 2025, Africa’s digital economy could reach $712 billion by 2050.
Green infrastructure also took centre stage. The African Green Hydrogen Strategy and the African Green Ports Forum are aligning Africa’s industrial future with global decarbonization standards. At the same time, new frameworks for Sustainable Aviation Fuels signal that climate responsibility is becoming integral to competitiveness.
A Continent Owning Its Narrative
In the closing sessions, leaders coalesced around three deliverables for Luanda:
1. Deals that close – financeable transactions for cross-border assets.
2. Governance commitments – continental corridors treated as shared assets, protected by binding agreements.
3. Unified capital – Africa’s financial system acting in concert to fund its own integration.
The symbolism of the venue was fitting. Angola—once an emblem of post-colonial fragility—is now a showcase of transformation, anchored by the $500 million Lobito Corridor concession connecting the Atlantic to Central Africa’s mineral belt.
As Bekele-Thomas concluded:
“We are meeting in a country that is not just discussing connectivity; it is building it. Luanda must mark a structural shift in how we govern, prepare, and finance Africa’s connectivity.”
The Verdict
The Luanda Summit did not trade in rhetoric—it traded in resolve. With the groundwork laid in Dakar now evolving into implementable frameworks, the continent is quietly rewriting the economics of development financing.
For the first time in decades, Africa’s infrastructure agenda feels less like a plea for aid and more like a portfolio of investment opportunities—designed, financed, and governed by Africans themselves.