The Arab Coordination Group (ACG) and the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) today launched a new phase of their partnership aimed at increasing cofinancing, mobilizing private capital, and accelerating Africa’s economic transformation.
The announcement followed a high-level consultative meeting held at AfDB headquarters in Abidjan, marking a shift from piecemeal cooperation to large-scale joint investment with programs aligned with Africa’s development priorities.
This new partnership comes at a critical moment, as Africa faces growing development financing gaps and an increasing urgency to mobilize capital at scale for energy access, climate resilience, food security, regional integration, and private sector-led growth.
The consultations reflect a shared ambition among ACG members to deepen engagement across the continent and deploy capital in a more coordinated, catalytic and impact-oriented manner.
From cooperation to large-scale joint investment
Discussions focused on how ACG and AfDB can jointly anchor Arab-African cofinancing by leveraging their integrated balance sheets, long-term and countercyclical financing capabilities, sectoral expertise, and national platforms.
Participants considered the following specific paths:
Enhance preparation for joint projects
Harmonization of funding approaches
Adjusting the investment pipeline
Strengthening policy dialogue
Mobilize private capital alongside public funds
The goal is to unlock larger and more resilient investment flows that support country-led development plans while delivering measurable long-term impact.
The consultations are also in line with AfDB’s commitment to strengthen Africa’s financial sovereignty through the New African Financial Architecture (NAFA), which aims to better integrate development finance institutions, guarantee providers, insurers, capital markets and private investors.
Joint declaration sets roadmap for action
The meeting concluded with the adoption of a joint declaration on the strategic partnership between ACG and AfDB. The Declaration sets out a common political vision and translates it into operational priorities and follow-up mechanisms to guide the next phase of the Arab-African partnership.
As a key next step, the partners have agreed to develop a funding and operational partnership framework to be considered in 2026. This framework defines the following methods:
The declaration also emphasizes the central role of the African Development Fund (ADF), the AfDB Group’s concessional lending arm, in supporting low-income and fragile countries, and calls for deeper cooperation between ACG institutions and the ADF.
The partnership signals a move towards significant investment, positioning Arab and African development finance institutions as anchors for mobilizing global capital to support Africa’s growth, resilience and economic transformation.
