18/05/2026
COMESA at the Africa Forward Summit: Africa-France Partnership for Innovation and Growth
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), together with some of its institutions, participated in the Africa Forward Summit held in Nairobi, from 11 to 12 May 2026. COMESA Secretariat was presented by Amb. Dr. Mohamed Kadah, Assistant Secretary General for Programmes.
COMESA actively engaged in the Summit which was co-hosted by H.E. President William Ruto of Kenya, Chairperson of COMESA and H.E. President Emmanuel Macron of France. Representing the regional bloc, Amb. Dr. Mohamed Kadah took part in high-level roundtable discussions aimed at advancing regional integration and economic transformation across Africa.
The Summit brought together Heads of State and Government, representatives from the African Union, the United Nations, the International and Regional Organisations, Financial Institutions, entrepreneurs, investors, private sectors, civil society, youth and among others.
The Summit placed a massive emphasis on building a self-sustaining financial framework. Two prominent COMESA institutions—the Trade and Development Bank (TDB), the African Trade & Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI) were at the forefront of the deliberations. Both TDB and ATIDI are expected to play a central role in the newly proposed New Africa Financial Architecture and Development (NAFAD) framework. In a strong vote of confidence in Africa’s financial architecture, France announced its intention to invest in the capital of ATIDI in order to support the de-risk of strategic public and private investments across the continent.
The summit signaled a clear shift away from traditional aid dependency toward equal, mutually beneficial partnerships focused on value creation, infrastructure development, and industrialization—all of which are core priorities of the regional integration agenda.
In his remarks, the President of Kenya highlighted that “Africa cannot trade effectively with itself while its economies remain disconnected from one another. Connectivity is not merely about infrastructure. It is about competitiveness, it is about regional value chains, it is about food security and it is about industrialisation. And ultimately, it is about shared prosperity”.
On the margins of the Summit, Amb. Dr. Kadah witnessed the signing of a Tripartite Agreement between COMESA institution ZEP-RE/ACRE, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and Grameen Crédit Agricole, to launch a EUR 2.2 million technical assistance initiative aimed at de-riskiing credit and expanding access to finance for smallholder farmers in several COMESA Member States, with a target of mobilising up to USD 1 billion in agricultural lending over the next three years.
Zambia
