Kampala, Uganda – The week-long Africa Industrialisation Conference 2025 has concluded with a call from the United Nations’ Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.
Addressing Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the private sector, civil society, and development partners during the Africa Industrialisation Day (AID) on Thursday, November 20, Guterres called for reforms in the global financial architecture to spearhead the continent’s industrial growth.
Why Africa needs debt relief
The SG noted that the AID theme — Transforming Africa’s Economy through Sustainable Industrialisation, Regional Integration, and Innovation — highlights the urgent need for an industrial future that is both green and digitally connected.
“To get there, we must reform the global financial architecture. That means delivering real debt relief, tripling the lending capacity of multilateral development banks, and giving developing countries a more meaningful role in the economic institutions that govern their fate,” said Guterres during the AID event held in Kampala, Uganda.
Guterres noted that sustainable industrialisation is vital to unlocking Africa’s full potential and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.
He called for continued collaboration to harness creativity, deepen regional ties, and ensure that Africa’s growth benefits both people and planet.
Kenya’s President William Ruto has been championing these reforms, maintaining that a fair and equitable financial order will give every country a chance to prosper.
What the Africa Industrial Day 2025 entails
The African Industrialisation Day focused on innovation, regional integration, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Held on the margins of Africa Industrialisation Week, the 4th Edition of the African Women in Processing Forum (AWIP) and the 1st African Youth Start-ups Forum, the event provided dedicated platforms to empower women-led enterprises and youth innovators, strengthen value chain participation, and catalyse partnerships and investment opportunities across the continent.
Guterres said green industries are expanding across the continent, powered to a great extent by the ingenuity and entrepreneurship of women and youth.
He added that AfCFTA is opening a new era of opportunity, creating a unified market and laying the foundations for sustainable supply chains and shared prosperity across the region.
However, the UN boss noted that challenges such as climate change, mounting debt, and food and energy insecurity all pose threats to Africa’s growth.
UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed called for a sustainable and innovative industry that can turn that momentum into shared prosperity, advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063 for all.
Agenda 2063 envisions “an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.”
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