ACG, AfDB Launch Strategic Partnership to Scale Investment in Africa
The Arab Coordination Group (ACG) and the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) have launched a new, structured strategic partnership aimed at scaling co-financing, mobilising private capital, and accelerating Africa’s economic transformation.
The partnership was formalised during a High-Level Consultation Meeting held at the AfDB’s headquarters in Abidjan, bringing together the heads of ACG institutions and the AfDB Group. The meeting marked a shift from fragmented cooperation towards a more programmatic and large-scale co-investment approach aligned with Africa’s development priorities.
The consultation comes at a critical time as Africa faces a widening development financing gap and an urgent need to mobilise capital for key sectors, including energy access, climate resilience, food security, regional integration, and private-sector-led growth. It also reflects the collective ambition of ACG members to expand and better coordinate their engagement across the continent.
Discussions focused on anchoring Arab–African co-financing by leveraging the combined balance sheets, long-term financing capacity, sectoral expertise, and country platforms of both partners.
Participants explored ways to enhance joint project preparation, harmonise financing approaches, strengthen policy dialogue, and align investments with country-led development agendas, while ensuring measurable impact and long-term resilience.
The talks were also framed within the AfDB’s New African Financial Architecture (NAFA), which seeks to strengthen Africa’s financial sovereignty by better integrating development finance institutions, insurers, guarantee providers, capital markets, and private investors.
The meeting culminated in the adoption of a Joint Declaration on a Strategic Partnership between the ACG and the AfDB. The declaration outlines a shared political vision and provides operational direction, identifying priority areas for cooperation and establishing principles for institutional follow-up.
As a next step, the partners agreed to develop a Financing and Operational Partnership Framework in 2026. This framework will define modalities for co-financing, pipeline coordination, mutual reliance, and regular joint programming.
The declaration also underscores the central role of the African Development Fund (ADF), the AfDB Group’s concessional financing arm, particularly in supporting low-income and fragile countries, and calls for closer collaboration between ACG institutions and the ADF.
