Ahead of the African Development Bank Group's 2026 Annual Meetings, which will convene in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, from 25-29 May 2026, Director of Board Affairs and Proceedings Chioma Onukogu and Professor Kevin Urama, Chief Economist and Vice President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, chaired a press briefing with journalists. Onukogu spoke on behalf of the Bank Group's Secretary General, Professor Vincent Nmehielle.
The theme of this year's meetings: "Mobilising Africa's Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented World," reflects the critical task of bridging the widening financing gap for the continent's development needs, amid a rapidly evolving global geopolitical and economic landscape and dwindling development financing for Africa.
Around 54 journalists and press representatives attended the briefing held in hybrid format on Thursday 23 April, with physical presence in Abidjan and online.
Onukogu said the Bank Group expects around 3,000 participants for the 61st Session of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank and the 52nd Session of the Board of Governors of the African Development Fund, its concessional lending window, during the meetings. The Republic of Congo was chosen to host in 2021 after the country responded to a call for expressions of interest from the Bank Group, and the latter ascertaining capacity of the former.
The meetings are primarily a statutory event of the Bank Group, during which the Boards of Governors, as the highest decision-making and oversight organs of the Bank and the Fund, will review the annual report on the finances, operations and other activities of the Bank and the Fund during the preceding financial year.
The programme will include a Governors' Dialogue - a closed-door session between the governors and Bank Group President, Dr Sidi Ould Tah. The Bank also plans to hold knowledge and special events, including a session to commemorate Africa Day on May 25, marking the creation of the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union.
Onukogu said that the Dialogue would afford the president and governors the opportunity to reflect on the recently adopted "Abidjan Consensus" on the New African Architecture for Development (NAFAD). This is a continent-wide framework to reshape the mobilization and deployment of capital and risk across Africa, derived from the Four Cardinal points strategic vision of Bank President Ould Tah.
Professor Urama linked the "Four Cardinal Points" to the theme of the Annual Meetings, highlighting the widening financing gap for Africa's development and climate ambitions, as geopolitics shift and fragmentation in the global economy deepens. Africa requires at least $184 billion - $221 billion to meet its infrastructure financing needs alongside an estimated $400 billion a year to accelerate its structural transformation.
Journalists asked how countries can capture more value from natural resources; whether the Bank plans new bond issuances, and how Africa's financial institutions could coordinate more closely. In response, Professor Urama said that the Bank is conducting regional and country-level counterpart analysis of the Bank's African Economic Outlook (AEO) report to provide more granular, targeted, and high-impact interventions across the continent.
Urama said the Bank Group's triple-A rating allows it to convene partners and drive "solutions-focused" debate. He called for stronger domestic resource mobilisation and better public financial management. He also urged wider use of digitisation to reduce leakages, while avoiding what he described as "burdensome tax regimes."
To learn more about the 2026 Annual Meetings click here.
