Addis Ababa, 18 March 2025 (ECA) - The 57th session of the Economic Commission for Africa’s Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development ended with a rousing call from Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the ECA, for Africa to own and pursue its own development agenda.
Gatete said the meeting came at a moment of profound global changes, which called for reflection on the next steps the continent needs to take.
He said the continent must recognise that the global economic realignments, technological revolution and changes in trade, investment and aid flows are coming at a time when the global financial architecture has been shown to be unfit for contemporary purposes.
“Africa in the face of these global developments has no other choice than to act – and act proactively,” he stressed, noting that “what has become abundantly clear in our deliberations is that Africa must take charge of its own economic destiny.”
Gatete said the resolution from the conference on the development of value chains reflected the commitment of Member States to industrialisation, greater intra-African trade and value addition, and could prove to be decisive in breaking Africa’s dependence on commodity exports.
“As global supply chains are being reconfigured and a new continental free trade market takes shape, Africa must rethink and reorganize its supply, production and trade networks for greater resilience and sustainability,” he said.
The resolution on artificial intelligence, Gatete said, underscored the technology’s capacity to transform the continent. “With AI projected to contribute $1.2 trillion to Africa’s economy by 2030, and boosting GDP by 5.6%, the opportunity before us is undeniable, he said.
Stressing that the AfCFTA is the continent’s best chance to boost trade and reduce dependence on external markets, Gatete called for African countries to move from commitments to real actions in support of the policy. “At the end of the day, we need to rethink the way we do things, and we have an answer in the AfCFTA, " he said.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org