Opening Ceremony of the Africa Forward Summit
Meetings & Events
Date: 12 May 2026
Language: English
Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/en/asset/k1r/k1rzudfh4k
Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations.

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Maggie Togo [0:01]:

Let us all take our seats, please, as we get ready. Let us all rise. All rise. And just to accustom you to the Kenyan custom, we can clap for them as they come in. We have our excellencies coming in, a wonderful club for them, just to welcome them. Welcome, your Excellencies. And like we say it in Kenya, caribou sama. Caribou. Kenya hakuna matata. Heads of state from literally around the globe joining us this morning. What a special day it is for Kenya and for Africa. A time of change, a time of decision making. A time of Africa moving forward. I'll kindly request we clear the front completely. We have three anthems to play and would like the front of the podium completely clear. So our members of the press, we appreciate what you do, but kindly will request that we clear off completely so that we start with our three anthems. We'll start with the French national anthem, followed by the Kenyan national anthem, then the au, the African Union anthem. So please, members of the press, as we appreciate that we need to mortalize this day, please, we'll request that you

clear the fronts so that we are

able to have some semblance of order as we begin this opening ceremony of the Africa Forward Summit on this wonderful day. Again, just to highlight that this is a momentous day, a day that leaders have come together to move Africa forward. We'll start with three anthems, starting with the French national anthem, followed by the Kenyan anthem, and then we'll conclude with the African Union anthem. Members of the press are kindly requesting

that we clear the front so that

we will be able to do this with some order, kindly, if we can clear. We appreciate that you have a job to do, but also we would like to just have some semblance of order as we begin this session. So please, let's clear. Kindly.

Let's clear. Kindly.

We request that we all clear from the front. We still have a few of you at the front.

Please let us clear so that we

are able to take the Ansons and give them the due respect that they deserve. Starting with the French national Ansen, followed by the Kenyan Ansen and also the AU Ansen finalist. So we'll start with the French national Anson, Kenyan Anson, then the au, the entrance. May I request that we may now take our seats? Your Excellency, Dr. William Samoe Ruto, President and Commander in Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces. Your Excellency, Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic. His Majesty, King Metzi iii, Kingdom of Lesotho. Your Excellency, Paul Pagane President of Rwanda. Your Excellency. Alison Watara, President of Cote d'.

Ivoire.

Your Excellency. Abel Fatah El Sisi, President of Egypt. Your Excellency Faustin Anchagi Todara, President of Central African Republic. Your Excellency. Azadi Ansomani, President of Pomoros. Your Excellency. Abi Ahmed Ali, President of Ethiopia. Your Excellency. Felicisi Sekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Your Excellency. Mohammed Od Zohani, President, Mauritania. Your Excellency. Mohammed Almedzi, President, Libya. Your Excellency. Akainde Wichilema, President of Zambia. Your Excellency. General Mamadi Odumai, President, Guinea. Your Excellency. Bola Ahmed Tinibu, President of Nigeria. Your Excellency. Joseph Numa Bokai, President, Liberia. Your Excellency. Basiro Diomaye Faye, President, Senegal. Your Excellency. Muhammad Idris Debi Itno, President of Chad. Your Excellency. Duma Gideon Boko, President of Botswana. Your Excellency. Diamond Gopal, President, Mauritius. Your Excellency. Dramani Mahama, President, Ghana. Your Excellency. Chapel, President, Mozambique. Your Excellency. Colonel Michael Randarinariana, President, Madagascar. Your Excellency. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General, United Nations. Your Excellency. Aziz Aknot, Prime Minister, Morocco. Your Excellency. Russell Mino Lami, Prime Minister Eswatini. Your Excellency. Americo Dos Ramos, Prime Minister, Sao Tome. Your Excellency. Sarah Saffan Zefre, Prime Minister, Tunisia. Your Excellency. Mwegulu Lame Natima, Prime Minister, Tanzania. All vice presidents present, your Excellency. Ambassadors, heads of delegation, Council representatives, development partners, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, your excellencies, at this point where we see Africa moving forward, it is a day that will be marked in history as a change has begun. Allow me, your excellencies, at this point to invite Vivian Onano, who is going to be our moderator for this session. Vivian Onano is one who needs no introduction. She's an award winning journalist and also as many other things that she has achieved in her college. Let's put our hands together as we welcome Vivian Onano, our moderator this morning. A good clap for her, please.


Moderator · Vivian Onano [9:45]:

Excellencies, heads of states and government, distinguished

ministers, partners of industry, members of the diplomatic corps, fellow young leaders, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Bonjour. Born here. Salaam alaikum. Welcome to the Africa Forward Summit 2026 under the theme Africa France Partnerships Compilation efforts. It is my distinct honor and privilege to serve as the moderator for this

presidential opening Session

Please allow me to begin by expressing sincere appreciation to our Provost Son of Solons, Monsieur Emmanuel Macron Presidential Republic for Faith Earl Saint of Tolance Dr. Samuel President Republic to Kenya. Please join me in giving Their Excellencies a warm round of applause for their leadership and commitment to strengthening a renewed Africa France partnership grounded in mutual respect, mutual cooperation and shared. Despite a big round of applause, news. Excuses we gathered here today at a

defining moment in global history.

The world is insane and increasingly Africa is becoming central to what comes next. Today, Africa is the youngest continent on earth with a median age of just 19 years. By 2015, one in four people in the world will be Africa. This is not simply a democratic yards, it is one of the greatest economic opportunities of our time. It's globally invested in it. Otherwise it also graves becoming a major liability. Because when you speak about Africa Forward, we are fundamentally speaking about our young people. Young Africans are already driving transformation across this continent. And this was clearly demonstrated yesterday at the Youth Future Makers forum where both President Macron and President Ruto actively engage with young leaders and entrepreneurs. And with greater investment in education, innovation, entrepreneurship, Africa has the potential to become one of the defining economic growth stories of the 21st century. Excellencies, where do we go from the amazing potential that we have to where we need to be at unprecedented scale and speed?

Excellence is.

As a young Kenya, as someone privileged to have started a transport, and as someone who has had the opportunity to travel across More than 40 countries in Africa and continues to actively engage with young people and leaders from both Africa and Europe, I genuinely believe that these moments matter to them for Africa, for France, and for the future of international cooperation itself. Because this challenge represents possibility. The possibility of moving beyond all the fountains and building partnerships based on procreation, core investment, innovation, trust and shared growth. This is strategic partnership. Africa today is experiencing one of the fastest ways of urbanization in human history, yet without a commensurate pace of industrialization. Historically, countries such as France achieve sustained prosperity through the combination of of demographic growth, urbanization and industrial transformation. Africa has a demographic dynamism, urban momentum. And now we need to accelerate the grade of industrialization at the required scale to meet the continent's extraordinary potential today and for the future. Ultimately, the Africa Forward summit will not be measured simply by speeches and declarations,

but by believing, by investments unlocked at

scale, by industries built at scale, by opportunities created at scale. Because Africa Forward is as simply as level in my commitment, a commitment to build an African that works for its young people. An Africa that competes Globally, an Africa that industrializes, sustainable and an Africa that helps shape the future of our world. This is the Africa we want. Excellencies, as I welcome our distinguished leaders to come and deliver their official statement, you'll be great to reflect on a number of deciding, for instance, what model of growth will define Africa's future prosperity? How can Africa industrialize at scale in ways that are more sustainable, more inclusive and more competitive? How do you ensure that the partnership between Africa and France is truly equitable, future oriented and capable of delivering shared prosperity in an increasingly complex and competitive world? Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is now my distinct honor to welcome to the stage our first speaker, who is our gracious host in coconut. He is a champion for Africa's economic transformation, an increasingly influential voice in shaping Africa's place in the world, and is very committed to positioning Africa not at the margins of the global economy, but at the very center of its future. Please welcome to the Stage His Excellency Dr. William Samuel Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya. Caribou. Mr. President.


Kenya · President · William Ruto [16:12]:

Congratul Emmanuel Mat, President of the Franklin Province and co chair of the Africa Award Summit 2026. Excellency, Chiefs of State and Government, Honourable Ministers, Captains of industry, distinguishes delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it is up to my honor and privilege to welcome you to The Culture Summit 2026 here in Nairobi, Kenya. The Cabal of Humankind. The first place for our shared human history and the origin of oneness. Wherever it happens, you are not merely visiting, you are returning to the very beginnings of humanity. And so, with warmth, friendship and pride, I say to you, welcome home. Bend the news. Sibu, Haribuli, Mbali. Welcome home. We gather, ladies and gentlemen, at a profound, consequential moment in global affairs. The foundations of international order are being reshaped by deepening geopolitical divisions, persistent conflicts, economic volatility, climate pressures and widening inequalities. Long standing assumptions about global stability, cooperation and prosperity are being tested as never before. At the same time, shifting centers of influence, changing trade alignments and the reconfiguration of global supply chains are redefining the architecture of the world economy itself. Yet in moments such as this, fragmentation cannot be the answer nor isolation desperate. The times before us demand stronger comparison, renewed multilateralism and partnerships grounding not only but in sovereign equality, mutual respect and share with multiple. It is not. It is in that spirit that is consumed. This summit grounded in our shared conviction that enduring partnerships must not be built on dependency, but on suffering. Equality not on aid or charity, but on mutual beneficial investments and not on extraction or exploitation, but on win win in difference. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Africa and France have a unique opportunity to forge a forward looking partnership that delivers shared progress while advancing Africa's long term economic transformation. Africa approaches this summit notes on the margins of global applies but as a strategic actor in its own right, endowed with vast natural resources, expanding markets and one of the greatest metaphors of youthful talent and innovation anywhere in the world today. We all know by the year came to Easter, one in every four people on earth will be participant. That reality alone will shape the future of living, will shape the future of markets, urbanization, energy demand and global economic growth. Over the course of this summer, our deliberations will put us on priorities fundamental to Africa's development projector and long term prosperity. Among them domestic mobilization of resources in Africa's development at sea, reforms of the international financial hacktivity, development of transport, logistics and connectivity, infrastructure, energy transition and green industrialization. And of course youth skills development to foster creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and AI driven transformation. First, we must confront with honesty and urgency the question of how Africa finances its own transformation. The era in which Africa's development was principally framed through aid, dependency and unsustainable governing must give way to a new paradigm grounded in investment, innovation, domestic resource mobilization and strategic partnerships. Billions on sovereign equality and mutual benefits. Because Africa is not part of the global problem. Africa is in fact the solution to the global challenges that exist today, including this university, our continent, necessities, post material systems, critical minerals, fertile land, immense renewable energy potential, expanding consumer markets, dynamic entrepreneurs and the youngest population in the world. What Africa requires today, friends, is not charity, but investment, not structure, but bad inclusion, not dependency, but mutually beneficial partnerships capable of unlocking shared prosperity. That is the essence of the Africa Forward Summit. It is about recalibrating Africa's place in the global product. It is about recupiling engagements with Africa, including the long standing partners such as France. A way through outdated models of aid and asymmetrical dependency. Towards a framework anchored on investment, enterprise, innovation, industrialization and mutually beneficial companies. And we are very clear about that. The current international financial system remains structurally an issue. African countries continue to face disproportionately far borrowing costs, constrained access to transitional finance and distorted these perceptions that are frequently disconnected from economic realities that exist. In this process, the bias embedded within global trade Heating systems continue to penalize African economies, increase the cost of capital and discourage long term investment into production sectors. This imbalance is neither sustainable not just it is one of the Principal trades. When Africa succeed, finance infrastructure, industrialization, climate protection and economic transformation at the square that is required. That is why Africa has supported the establishment of the African Credit Rating Agency. An important step towards ensuring fairer, evidence based and context sensitive assessment of African economies and investment opportunities. Its purpose is not to replace existing global institutions, but to correct long standing distortions in risk perception that continue to increase the cost of capital for African countries and continue to discourage long term investment into productive sectors. At the same time, we must recognize that the World bank and the International Monetary Fund alone cannot finance Africa's development ambition. We have to be realistic even as we come. Effort to continue the scale of Africa's transformation requires us to rethink the sources of sectors and instruments of developing finance research. Africa must increasingly finance Africa. Let me repeat that. Africa must increasingly finance Africa. What do I mean? Across our country, enormous pools of domestic capital remain underutilized. Africa today holds more than $4 trillion in long term domestic savings. Including over $1 trillion in pensions and insurance assets and more than $500 billion in central bank reserves. Yet, paradoxically, while this capital exists within African economies, government supports our continent continue to struggle to finance critical infrastructure, transport vehicles, energy systems, industrial plants, redistic method and even affordable housing. There is capital in ase, but Africa's development projects remains part of financing. The PC therefore is not liquidity, it is risk capital. That is why that tonight is laid on BISA of a stronger, more resilient and more self sustaining financial attitudes. Kenya therefore reaffirms its very strong support for the alliance of African Multilateral financial institutions as a strategic transaction of coordinating capital organization. This sharing and for the execution across our continent. You remember colleagues that we did on those at the last meeting summit. The alliance of African multilateral institutions, starting with the World bank and all the other institutions. Through institutions such as the Africa Development Bank, Africa Export Import Bank, Rapid Bank, Africa Finance Corporation, the Trade and Development Bank, Shelda, Africa Development Bank, Africa PT and Africa Trade an Investment Development insurance. Africa is steadily strengthening capacity to finance infrastructure, industrialization, trip housing, climate, resilience and economic transformation. These institutions are more than financial intermediaries. They are instruments of passive agency, strategic sovereignty and collective self determination. Friends, we must believe in ourselves. That is why we strongly support the recapitalization of African trade and investment development in Soros. As a title pillar of the new Africa financial architecture for development. And I must thank the President of the Africa Development bank who is right here with us. Who is here heading this effort together with all the other machine learning institutions. This is because Africa does not need more fragmented institutions. Africa needs coordinated financial firepower capable of financing infrastructure, industrialization, trade, holidays and energy transformation in our continent. In our it is in this field that they proposed new capital, financial architecture and development payments. NAFA as an economy seeks to align African multinational institutions, sovereign investment platforms, pension systems, development banks and private sectors design a coordinated continental investment strategy. Its objective is simply and simple but transformative to retain more African savings within Africa and challenge them into productive bankable entertainment sectors of our economy. NASTRATE is designed to unlock long term domestic institutional capital by creating credible project pipelines, harmonizing investment frameworks, strengthening regional capital markets and establishing mechanisms that de risk sustained public investments. By lowering risk and risk assets and improving project preparation after conventions insurance funds, we are in better positions to invest confidently in infrastructure, industrialization, energy, housing and digital connectivity projects across our country. And by the way, I am still talking about resources that are African, our own resources. Ultimately, NAFAT represents Africa's collective efforts to build financial sovereignty by aligning African institutions, African savings and African capital markets behind Africa's development priorities. And Kenya has already begun implementing the elements of this visit through the establishment of the National Infrastructure Fund, a platform designed to mobilize long term domestic capital into strategic national projects. Already, our new National Infrastructure Fund has mobilized approximately $1 billion in the last four months, demonstrating the enormous potential that exists within African economies themselves. This is money we have first mobilized here on Africa as government. We are deliberately partnering with the private sector to build confidence, reduce risk and cloudy investment into transformative public infrastructure. Our objective is simple to create credible mechanisms through which private capital can participate securely and profitably in Africa's. Enough experience demonstrates what domestic business mobilization can achieve. Over the last three and a half years, we have mobilized nearly $4 billion locally for our affordable housing program. Through innovative domestic financing mechanisms, we are investing in housing, creating jobs, supporting enterprise and expanding food ownership while restoring dignity to millions upon ancient times. This experience demonstrates a fundamental truth. Africa can generate substantial development efficiencies internally when institutions are strong, policies are credible and predictable, markets are trusted, and citizens themselves become active participants in nation building excellencies. Infrastructure development remains one of the most decisive foundations of Africa economic transformation and continental integration. Africa's infrastructure financing gap continues to constrain productivity, continues to increase the cost of trade, weaken industrial competitiveness and fragment markets across our country. According to the Africa Development Bank, Africa requires between 130 and $170 billion annually for infrastructure of investment, with financing gaps estimated at between 70 and $100 billion per day. Bridging this gap will not happen through public borrowing alone. It requires innovative financial instruments, blended finance mechanisms, the 15 facilities like the one I have talked about, and strong public private partnership capable of unlocking institutional capital. But the broader challenge before us is continental. We must accelerate investment in transport areas, in ports, wind systems, roads, aviation, connectivity and integrated logistics ecosystems capable of binding Africa together into one competitive economic space under the African American people. Because Africa cannot trade effectively with itself while its economies remain disconnected from one another. Connectivity is not merely about infrastructure. It is about competitiveness. It is about regional value chains, it is about food security, and it's about industrialization. And ultimately, it is about shared responsibility. Equally critical is a concern of the next. That is why we must fundamentally restructure and strengthen Password Financial to mobilize the scale of capital require to finance these faster. Missing African lands. Excellencies Africa possesses some of the greatest renewable energy potential anywhere in the world. From geopolitical resources in the Youth Bay and all to immense opportunities in solar, wind, hydroelectric power and green hydrogen across our continent. Africa there too has a historic opportunity not merely to participate in the global energy transition, but to help lead it. But for Africa, the energy transition has also been a development and an industrialization transition. We must accept a future. And we cannot. We cannot accept a future. We need also pristinely excludes raw green minerals, while industrial value efficiency, advanced manufacturing and technological innovation take place elsewhere. That model belongs to the past. Africa must become a competitively industrial hub powered by teenagers, modern infrastructure innovation and strategic investment partnerships. Green industrialization presents our company with an opportunity not only to contribute meaningfully to global climate solutions, but also to create jobs, expand manufacturing capacity, strengthen exports, deepen regional value sales and accelerate structural. Humanitarian excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. Perhaps Africa's greatest strategic asset is its people. This demographic and the democratic reality that it presents will profoundly shape the future of labor matters, the future of technology, of an investment from Samsung and abrasive and of course, economic policy. Our youth population is not a burden to be managed. It is an extraordinary strategic advantage to be invested in. But demographic potential does not automatically become demographic power. It must be deliberately cultivated by education, skills, development, research, digital inclusion, entrepreneurship and technological innovation. We must equip Africa's young people not merely to seek jobs, but to create enterprise, build technologies, drive industrial transformation, and lead the next frontier over future intelligence and digital movements. And across our continent, this transformation is already underway. From Nairobi to Lagos, from Igali to Cape Town, young Africans are redefining finance through fintech Transforming Africa's new technology, expanding digital commerce, building globally competitive startups and creating solutions capable of saving industries far beyond our borders. What they require is access to quality education, access to digital infrastructure, access to affordable capital, access to markets. And of course, they will create the opportunities necessary. Ladies and gentlemen, none of these conditions can be fully realized without peace, stability and effective multilateral process. Peace, security and development remain inseparable foundations of sustainable progress. Megatrons have to versatile and beyond constructed conflicts. Violent extremism, unconstitutional changes of government, terrorism, organized time and child related insecurity continue to undermine stability, weaken institutions and constrained economic advancement. Current estimates indicate that Africa accounts for nearly 20% of active armed conflict globally and close to half of all impaired displacements worldwide. These leaders understood both the speed but also the urgency of the challenges concerning our country. We must therefore refine our political support through African led peace and security mechanisms, including the Africa Women Peace and Security Advocacy, predictable financing, institutional capacity and international cooperation in support of lasting peace, but not in this cannot be secured through military response alone. This requires confronting the structural drivers of instability, poverty, exclusion, unemployment, inequality, weak institutions, climate vulnerability and the absence of economic opportunity, particularly human beings. That is one Strengthening Africa's strategic autonomy in matters of peace and security remains an imperative and it is why we reiterate with clarity and conviction the urgent necessity of reforming global peace and security governance, particularly the work of National Security Council. It is both indispensable and unconscionable that a continent of nearly 1.5 billion people, represented by 52 sovereign states and constituting one of the largest blocks within the United nations, continues to remain excluded from permanent representation on the Security Council. Such inequality, ladies and gentlemen, such inequality erodes legitimacy, undermines credibility and diminishes confidence in multilateral systems itself. No global governance architecture can credibly claim to be democratic, to be representative, to be just or fit for purpose, while a substantial part of humanity remains absent from the table where the world's most consequential decisions are made. THE Diamonds Family Therefore, for the international community to recognize without ambiguity or without delay, that Africa cannot and will not and must not remain subject to decisions taken without its equal voice on the good. The reform of the Security Council is not merely an institutional adjustment. It is a moral obligation. It is a strategic necessity. It is indispensable to restoring trust, legitimacy and confidence in the international order itself. Kenya, therefore remains steadfast in its support for the common African position as articulated in the Ozdemini Consensus and the Suka Declaration, which calls for Africa to be accorded permanent representation on the Security Council with all the prerogatives and privileges of permanent membership alongside additional non paralysis excellencies. Ladies and gentlemen, Africa does not need privilege, but fairness. We don't need exclusion, but inclusion. We do not seek confrontation, but partnership unparalleled from mutual respect, shared responsibility and of course, shared progress. This summit therefore presents us with an opportunity to define a new era of engagement between Africa and its partners. An era based not on dependency, but on dignity. Not on extraction, but on value creation and not on short term transactions, but on long term share prosperity. Because the Africomian vision is an Africa of confidence, an Africa of ideas, an Africa of innovation, an Africa of enterprise. An Africa that believes in itself, invests in its people, mobilizes its own resources and engages the world as an equal partner in shaping balanced, prosperous, peaceful global future. Africa is rising, determined to shift its own destiny and increasingly prepare to shape the future of the world itself. That is the Africa forward agenda. An agenda grounded not on dependency, but in sovereignty. Not in vulnerability, but in resilience and not in limitation, but in possibility. That is the artifact whose time has come. Excellent. Ladies and gentlemen, Kenya is deeply honored to co host this summit here in Nairobi. We look forward to productive deliberations, practical outcomes and enduring partnerships capable of advancing prosperity, stability, dignity and shareholders for our people and for future generations. I thank you for your kind attention. Thank you very much.


Moderator · Vivian Onano [47:34]:

Thank you, your excellency. To the well known as the reinforcing African economic position today. And the importance of partnerships such as the Africa France partnership. And now it's about to fall over to welcome to the stage our next speaker, who is also our core contributor. He's a global leader who has consistently centered international cooperation and a world of youth based order, has been at the forefront of advancing dialogue and global economic reform and strategic partnerships between Africa and France. Please welcome to the Stage His Excellency, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic of France. Bienvenue, Monsieur President.


France · President · Emmanuel Macron [48:22]:

Thank you so much, Mr. President. Dear William. Your Majesty of the State and governments, Secretary General. Secretary General of the International of the African Union of Santo Feni, Ministers, Ambassadors, entrepreneurs, Ladies and gentlemen, And I will speak in France.

I think Mr. President said it all. So that we can move on. What makes this summit so unique is the philosophy behind it. And I want to extend on that and my life. Firstly, this summit all began with meetings with youth, with business leaders, representatives of sport and culture. And indeed just after this session we're going to be meeting with the captains of industry, with whom we'll be able to discuss things. But deep down, the conviction that I wanted to share with you is that the agenda that or Africa and France or NATO, however, the one that I stand for must not look backwards, but just look straight at it. As President Ruto just said, we need to keep our eyes fair. And what all I have been trying to do for 10 years now is to construct a relationship which looks backwards with lucidity, maybe Cameron, Rwanda, Algeria and other nations and which looks with bravery at the present. Look at the necessity of investing in sport and culture and creativity, looking at co development and co investment which is built on respect for the fact that Africa had its own back end. Relations between Africa and France as we see it, as the way we want to implement it, are built on courage, respect and a will to have a shared agenda. That's what we've been working on for 10 years. We spoke about it yesterday, so I won't get into it now. Why am I so convinced that this is the right way to move down the clock? Because the challenges of Africa and Europe are shared challenges. With all that peace, prosperity, sovereignty. Europe has always been fighting for their sake. And after the Second World War, the EU was built on this struggle for peace and sovereignty. And now the European agenda is indeed one built on the strategic autonomy so as not to depend on American or Chinese power. And we want to defend the rule

of law,

international law. We believe in equality, in equal footing regulations, we defend the climate. That is what Europe is all about. And that is the exact same times that Africa has been formed. What Africa wants is greed, prosperity and independence. And deep down, this partnership that is embodied here in this Africa for weeks I know is a bond between Africa and the Europe. This is what France is working for. Peace, prosperity. And this independence, this strategic independence, it's a very powerful thing. And if we can do this, then it will enable us to reconstruct together a multilateral order that has been thrown into active, being jeopardized, affects all of us. And deep down this can be a strong basis for moving forward together. And in terms of peace, I don't want to repeat what Professor Bhuta said. This is going to require African unity. And I really firmly believe this. And I'm delighted to see so many of my brothers here participating document from so many nations who have come to Nairobi. I know that you're all very busy, so I'm very grateful to you for making this because it really does show this image of a united continent from Madrid right down to the Indian Ocean, the south of the continent, Western Africa, Central Africa and Eastern Africa. Remember, all of these different parts of Africa, given that it is so large, are all parts. Nonetheless, they're over one continent. They will share the jamba. Which means that if we want to be in this. I agree. It means that we have equal representation, better representation for Africa in international instances such as the UN financial institutions. And we want it represented in the Security Council of the Union. And we have also been fighting for Africa to have a permanent seat at the G20. We've been fighting for this for years and we've now made it a reality. And we are fighting for an agenda. We've been talking about this for an African UN presence which will be all the better place to defend its own reasons and security operations. And particularly we hope to see all the way with all given to Africa's own sovereign security. The African conflict needs better representation. And Africa has the capacity to build on its strengths. So what we stand ready to do is assist with a reworked security arrangement which is respectful of the 78 African countries, but never eclipsing each nation's sovereignty. And I'm delighted to hear from your introductory remarks that we can build together a shared agenda to overcome the peace and security challenges of Egypt and continue to work together so that the whole of the UN can move towards on a more equitable basis. Prosperity needs to. With President De Ruto I was discussing this. I think that he is absolutely right when he's talking about the prosperity of food and disappear. It's simple. What I'm offering is not to offer assistance. Those days are behind those things.

And

we know that there are budgetary challenges in some instances, security challenges in others. These are realities that we need to be realistic about. But we need to rethink our system and we need to look realistically at all of the cross country benefits that Africa can derive from its diaspora. Those who are working very, very hard in many, many of our countries and send remittances back home are another important lever that we must not overlook. But the main notion I want to focus on is co investment. What does co investment? Meanwhile, it means investing in human capital, young talents in Africa and a formal economy. One of the major difficulties here is that there's too much of the African economies that are underneath the informal government. It's about time we brought them into the value chains and to restructure your agricultural sector and your industrial sector in such a way that it will be stronger than ever so that Africa will no longer be seen as a place for rare earths and other resources to be extracted, but rather to be a partner. So we're working towards a transformation of investment relations, investment in 17 energy, sustainable development, building on your strengths and your youth and your talent. And this is what the business grant table is hopefully going to enable us to structure by looking at investing in AI health. So what we need to do is look at the partnership that we want together through a levy of investment. And this is where we see this agenda of prosperity and sovereignty together. Getting Africa forward on the economic level means greater sovereignty and autonomy. It's important for Europeans as well to have more strategic autonomy in its partnerships. We need to ensure that we do not become dependent on the cumulative powers. In some ways look like they're going to teach everything. And it's not just science and Europe today who are going to mobilize all of the critical minerals or rare earth that we're going to need for the future. It's neither science nor Europe that will be here giving you dictates on the way forward. No, those things are way behind our sector. The Eugene agenda has every interest in seeing you march strongly towards the sovereignty and autonomy because they're the same goals that we have. And if you are successful in this hunt for sovereignty, be it with agriculture, with economy or wherever, then you are also offering more solutions to us. So your success is our successor. So when you invest in your populations and have them succeed, that means fewer people fleeing poverty. And so this again is our success in your success standing up. So here what I want is for all of us to take a leap together. This is not an agenda which is univocal, which is top down from Europe to Africa. No way. It is an equal footing partnership built on mutual respect. And we're going to build this together with respect, lucidity and courage. And that is why if we're going to be successful in this, we need the business leaders. And that's what we announced yesterday. And this is a big third step. 23 billion euros of investment in the private sector. These are for industries, for firms and fully private sector companies in Africa. These 23 billion euros of investment is 14 billion for 9 billion in investments for African businesses. And so this we are hoping will be the job that we need to inject more momentum into the process. All of this is going to be based on quite simple things. A new partnership, a new vision for managing resources, for sustainable agriculture, for having tax and financial policies that are more consistent mean that we can mobilize international funding data, be it with the world bank be it with the IMF and with other information, with special drawing rights, with all kinds of mechanisms, and that can move us all forward. So it's a true strategy for guaranteeing peace. And, and that is why the ITD here in Nairobi is so important. We're going to be able to work with youth, with youth to move forward so ITB can play its full role continent wide and in this way be successful. This strategy is a whole new paradigm shift and it's going to require a new financial paradigm shift. And this is all part of our shared strategy. Other than that, I would say President Ruto said what I wanted to say, that I think this summit embodied our new partnership and I think he said it better than I ever could. So I want to endorse what seems

very

moment of time. We will be meeting with business leaders, we'll be discussing. Financing investments, and then after that, we're going to have the outcome of this effort before we do so note with the declarations of those investments. And then together with President Ruto, we're going to bring to the G7 and Airbnb on, on behalf of all of you, the message from this forum. And then throughout the year at the imf, World bank at the un, we are going to showcase and push this agenda. And that is why this summer, in my opinion, is going to enable us to jointly set forward upcoming path. So I don't want to take up any more of your time, dear ladies and gentlemen, but I just wanted to extend my thanks to President Rupaul for agreeing to host this outstanding summer here in Nairobi. And I'm delighted to be here with you, with my brothers and sisters from all around Africa. And I'm looking forward to working on all of the importance that we can prove your strength, your energy, so that we have a new African. This agenda for peace and prosperity is something that I truly aspire to. And it's something that, with a lot of respect and humility, that I want to put at the service of this continent, the world's youngest continent. And even last year we saw the strongest rate of growth from around the world. So it's not only the continent of the future, it's already a power and a strength in the world today. And I am proud to be standing at your side and to try humbly to build with you this agenda in which we will be investing heavily. We want to work with you. Long live the friendship between Africa and France. Thank you.


Moderator · Vivian Onano [1:04:23]:

A long big round of applause for his excellency. Thank you, Mr. Prasdale. For reinforcing the shared opportunities between Africa and so as to continue working together. And now I'd like to please welcome

on stage one of the world's famous

champions of machine autism, peace and security, sustainable development and global solidarity. Please welcome to the Stage His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres. Secretary General of the United Nations. Welcome you to this.


UN · SG · Antonio Guterres [1:05:14]:

Congratulations for convening these African standards. And congratulations for forging the unique partnership between France and Africa for African development Emergency Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. The name of this summit captures the moment in the mission Africa

forward to

one of the most turbulent brutal moments in leading number Africa not waiting. Africa is moving and Africa is moving. African continents are arriving. When redefining the rights of our time on how to reform a global financial association designed in 1945 for a world that no longer exists. Africa played a leading role in the approval of the practice. It is Africa leadership building new tools like the borrowers platform so that the Council can speak as one and negotiate constraints something the credit rating systems that locks too many of the borrowing tools they need. Africa has a leadership in subpoena to civilian commitments to expand the lending power of Mazdaji developing banks to mobilize private capital at scale and to deliver relief from the debt burden crushing developing economies. It leads African leadership through the African Development bank that is advancing a bold reason to reform the continental financial architecture from within. Utilizing African resources for African priorities and prosperity. Inscribing the UN Framework Convention and international tax operation. Today countries are no longer treated out of what is the right. And I want to pray that is absolutely essential. As if we do everything with the adequate pedestrian strategies to mobilize an extraordinary share of natural resources in order to be able to accelerate the development of a continent and this African military alongside the small island states and other developing countries and the front lines that has placed the primacy emergency where it belongs to at the center of the global zone. This is not a continent wasting fossil instruments. This is a continent producing value. But let us be honest about what stands in Africa's world. A global system designed without our system and still largely operating without us returning century old injustices. The continent of more than 1 1/2 billion people with no permanent seats on the realms to be passing as one referred by President Hillary. Without the voice, representation and decision making power inside international financial institutions that shape this autonomy. It's not ethical, but losing. It's the one that means the fact that the basic Africa is not convenient in cooperative growth. Meanwhile, as well known the future development decisions Is collapsing. Old budget cuts, partnerships are new commitments walked back just as the need is greatest. So this is not only financial crisis, this is a prison. The climate change Africa did not point it yet. The continent is more than faster than the rural average. Bearing the vastest constitutions in displaced communities most others and economic struggles. Today's global energy turmoil Volcanic fossil fuel markets fragmented trademark fiscal structures influential and strengthened development across the continent. Africa must be at the center of climate justice. The continental 60% of world's vast sea of the pension and receives 2% of global clean energy investments with the HUD funds expected to generate 10 times more electricity than it needs back into center and coming from the universe. Yet 600 billion Africans still live without electricity and 1 billion still rely on M. King Putin a tribe hundred thousand watches a year, Mostly women, children, mostly out of size. And in Athens, the continent says his borrowing tax once resources, countries. That should be dealing, etc. That is not a market verdict on Africa. It is a verdict on the injustices of the system. The continent also holds its strong reserves of the critical minerals the game transition depends on. For too long the pattern has been destroyed. Efficient resources have been inspected designed elsewhere. The environmental damage left behind the revolution stable and critical energy transitions millions times the way. Fair value chains, intangible processing and manufacturing transparency environmental and universal standards and meaningful benefits for affected communities. No more exploitation, no more hunger. The people of Africa must benefit first and most from the resources of Africa. And going back to climate change. Adaptation must no longer be half assault. The adaptation finance gap must be closed. Africa is paying an enormous price in adoption to develop a certain cost by climate change. And Africa has been denied the resources and the capacities able to protect those populations and their infrastructure in these settled constants. Climate farmers with justice is a must in today's world. African monitors African researchers and Africa building travel ships which are. Sam.


Moderator · Vivian Onano [1:15:26]:

Another big round of applause to His Excellency. Thank you so much. And now I'd like to welcome our next speaker who is a distinguished African diplomat currently leading Africa's premier continental institution. He's a state first champion of continental integration and natural cooperation. Please welcome to the state His Excellency Manu and YouTube chairperson of the African Union Commission. Success.


AUC · Chairperson [1:19:22]:

By saying this. The future is for the African continent. The African continent will be the powerhouse of global growth. So let us work together. Let us put our energies together and move forward and I thank you.


Moderator · Vivian Onano [1:19:45]:

Another big round of applause for His Excellency. Thank you so much. Your Excellencies, please allow me to briefly highlight the high level roundtable discussions that will continue throughout the day. Immediately following the opening session, we'll proceed to the high level plenary on Energy transition and Green Industrialization in the adjacent room Sabu B, which is right next. This will be followed by a high level working session on the reform of the International Financial architecture Southern Sea. Following the last working session, we'll be a plenary of Peace and Security. Thereafter, we will then transition into parallel roundtable discussions on artificial intelligence and digital technologies, Blue Economy, health and Agriculture. In parallel, there will also be a special session on Congo Basin Climate Commission ahead of the closing ceremony to ensure the smooth flow of the summit proceedings. Members of the organizing team will be available throughout the venue to provide guidance. Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, please give a big round of applause to our open plenary speakers. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

God bless Kenya. God bless Africa. God bless France. Asante Sale. Allow me to hand over to Mr. Maggie Togo.


Maggie Togo [1:21:19]:

Thank you, Vivian. Let's give a clap for Vivian. For great moderation. Your Excellencies, that brings us to the

end of this session and would like

to now invite all the presidents and heads of state to a family photo which invented Jet right here on stage. So I'll kindly request that all the

excellences for family photo before we exit.

All presidents and heads of state to

kindly just be here on stage for a family photo. Now we transition from here to Savo.