The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, has asserted that Africa holds the tools to drive its own economic transformation and must seize them.

At the opening ceremony of the 39th Ordinary Summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Youssouf said the African Continental Free Trade Area, combined with 30 percent of the world’s critical minerals and a market of 1.4 billion people, provides a powerful foundation for own growth.

He urged full and structured partnership with the private sector to accelerate industrialisation, with a strong focus on energy transition and tech-innovation.

To reinforce that commitment, Youssouf announced plans to establish a Permanent Presidential Mechanism to facilitate strategic dialogue with African businesses, to ensure a sustained  and wide private-sector input into the continent’s economic transformation agenda.

The summit, held under the theme “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063,” also spotlighted water security. 

Youssouf called for intensified cooperation in the management and sustainable use of water resources, describing them as increasingly scarce and critical to Africa’s development ambitions.