AUDA-NEPAD launches development programme for island economies and green development fund
The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) last Friday launched the Programme for African Developing Island Economies in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. It is the first continent-wide development programme specifically designed to address the challenges facing Africa’s island economies. The participating countries – Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, São Tomé and Príncipe, and the Seychelles – are to receive support under a five-year plan running until 2031, including assistance with climate adaptation, trade development and integration into continental markets.
The plan comprises six pillars: the blue economy and the sustainable use of marine resources, climate adaptation and resilience, sustainable energy and water supply, connectivity and integration into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), measures to tackle youth unemployment, and digital transformation. Furthermore, it focuses on industrialisation tailored to the resources of island economies, the expansion of maritime and digital infrastructure, and investment in future technologies and the knowledge economy. The aim is to tackle common structural challenges such as small domestic markets, geographical isolation and high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change in a targeted manner. The programme was developed during a consultative meeting involving the seven participating island economies. It is supported through a partnership with South Korea, as well as by the African Development Bank, the regional economic committees, and the Indian Ocean Commission.
Also announced was the launch of the African Green Transition PPP Fund (AGTPF). The new public-private investment platform is intended to support the implementation of green infrastructure projects across the continent. Investments are to be made, amongst other things, in renewable energy, transmission infrastructure, projects at the interface between water and energy supply, the decarbonisation of industry, and climate-resilient infrastructure. According to Nardos Bekele-Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of AUDA-NEPAD, Africa does not lack viable green projects but rather platforms capable of turning well-prepared initiatives into concrete investments. The fund is intended to bridge this gap by mobilising public, private, and institutional capital for bankable infrastructure projects. The AGTPF is structured as a Luxembourg SICAV-RAIF and aims to mobilise around €500 million in public, private, and institutional capital during its initial phase, leading up to the Africa Business Forum 2026. The countries participating in the Programme for African Developing Island Economies could also benefit from the new financing platform.
The announcements were made during the joint ninth session of the African Union’s Specialised Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration and the fifth session of the Specialised Technical Committee on Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals last week. The theme of the meeting was ‘Financing Africa’s Industrialisation for Sustainable Development’. Discussions between ministers, development partners and representatives from the private sector, academia and civil society focused on strategies for financing industrialisation and supporting Africa’s economic transformation within the framework of Agenda 2063 of the African Union.
Zimbabwe pushes ahead with domestic lithium processing
Last Friday, the first edition of the Zimbabwe Industrialisation Conference & Expo came to a close in Harare. The two-day conference brought together high-ranking representatives from politics, business and regional organisations to discuss ways of accelerating Zimbabwe’s industrialisation. The conference was officially opened on Thursday by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. In his speech, he reaffirmed his government’s aim of transforming Zimbabwe from a supplier of unprocessed raw materials into a hub where the country’s own mineral resources are processed and further refined.
Zimbabwe is one of Africa’s leading lithium producers and is therefore a key supplier of the raw material required for electric vehicle batteries and energy storage systems. Until now, however, the country has exported most of its lithium in unprocessed form.
In May, Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (PLZ), a subsidiary of the Chinese commodities company Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, brought the country’s first lithium sulphate processing plant at the Arcadia mine near Harare into full operation. According to the company, this is also the first commercial plant of its kind on the African continent. PLZ had already exported lithium sulphate from the plant for the first time in April. Investment in the plant amounts to around 400 million US dollars.
According to PLZ, the construction of a plant for refining lithium carbonate – the next step in the processing chain – is also nearing completion. The Zimbabwean state-owned lithium producer Mutapa Energy Minerals is also currently preparing to build a plant for processing lithium concentrate. In July, Managing Director Innocent Rukweza announced that an agreement had been reached with several Chinese companies regarding the necessary financing.
To further promote domestic processing, the government has, in recent months, relied in particular on export restrictions on unprocessed raw materials. As early as February, it had imposed an export ban on raw minerals and lithium concentrate. This is to be followed, from January 2027, by a complete export ban on unprocessed lithium and 13 other critical raw materials – including cobalt and platinum group metals. The measures form part of the National Development Strategy 2, launched last year, which aims to elevate Zimbabwe to the group of upper-middle-income countries by 2030. The country is currently classified by the World Bank as a lower-middle-income country. According to the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), mineral sales rose to US$983.85 million in the first quarter of 2026. At the same time, as a result of the government’s export ban on raw minerals, export volumes increased by 27 per cent and export values by 79 per cent.
According to figures from MMCZ, revenue from lithium exports rose from US$84.19 million in the first quarter of 2025 to US$178.64 million in the same period this year.
Despite the growing importance of the lithium sector, observers warn that local processing alone does not guarantee broad-based economic development. Unstable political conditions, poor infrastructure and limited industrial capacity are preventing a fair distribution of the increased revenue. As a result, the local population in many mining regions has barely benefited from the rapid growth of the lithium sector and continues to complain about dilapidated roads, a lack of local jobs and insufficient investment in health and education. Criticism is also coming from smaller producers, who point out that they often lack the financial resources for their own processing facilities. They are therefore calling for shared processing capacities that could enable even smaller mining companies to play a greater role in the value chain.
Special news: 2002 German Africa Award Winner Olara A. Otunnu is running for the position of UN Secretary-General
Last Friday, Ugandan diplomat Olara A. Otunnu entered the race to succeed UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Otunnu, the former UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, is the recipient of the 2002 German Africa Award. The 75-year-old, currently the oldest candidate, announced his intention to prioritise ending major international conflicts and spoke out in favour of consistent climate action compatible with economic development. He also announced plans to establish an institution to support the UN’s work in the field of artificial intelligence. With Otunnu, a second Africa candidate – following Macky Sall – is now running for the highest office at the United Nations. Sall served as President of the Republic of Senegal from 2012 to 2024 and has called, among other things, for reform of the United Nations as well as stronger representation of Africa and the Global South in international decision-making structures. In addition to Otunnu and Sall, five candidates from Latin America and the Caribbean are currently competing for the post of the next UN Secretary-General.
In other news
Last Friday, Malawi’s first grid-connected battery storage facility, with a capacity of 20 MW and 40 MWh, was commissioned in Lilongwe. The facility was implemented as a joint project between the state-owned Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). It stores surplus solar power and feeds it back into the grid when required. This will enable fluctuations in the electricity grid to be balanced out in future. To date, two-thirds of Malawi’s electricity generation has been based on hydropower, which is increasingly suffering from droughts and extreme weather events. Solar energy currently accounts for around 100 MW of the country’s total installed power generation capacity of 580 MW. The new battery storage system is intended to reduce power cuts and better integrate renewable energy into the electricity grid. According to the operator, around 600,000 additional households are set to benefit from a reliable electricity supply. The plant forms part of Malawi’s efforts to expand its electricity supply. By 2030, the electrification rate is set to rise to 70 per cent; currently, only around 25 per cent of Malawian households have access to electricity. The government has already announced three further battery storage facilities with a total capacity of 60 MW. The storage facility in Lilongwe is the only one of its kind in southern Africa apart from those in Namibia and South Africa.