Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Representatives of Think Tanks and Research Institutions, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.

It is a great honour to join you today at the 11th Africa Think Tank Summit, a gathering that has, over the years, become a symbol of Africa’s intellectual and policy courage. On behalf of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, and the entire Commission, I warmly welcome you to Addis Ababa, the political and diplomatic heart of our continent.

Let me begin by acknowledging the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) for convening yet another timely platform that brings together our finest thinkers, policymakers, private sector leaders, and development partners to reflect on one of the most critical issues of our time , how to move from taxation to action; how to bridge the persistent gap between policy and implementation in public financial management across Africa.

Africa’s Fiscal Moment: From Vision to Action

The theme of this year’s Summit speaks volumes about our collective commitment to fiscal sovereignty and accountable governance. It challenges us to ensure that Africa’s development is financed by African resources, guided by African priorities, and implemented through systems that inspire trust, transparency, and transformation.

In the spirit of Agenda 2063, our blueprint for “The Africa We Want”, we are called to build capable institutions that can translate bold policy ideas into tangible outcomes. Policies on taxation, public expenditure, and resource management must not remain confined to conference halls or strategy documents. They must find life in classrooms, hospitals, industries, and communities.

Africa has the vision. What we must now ensure is execution.

Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Implementation

Across our continent, we have seen an impressive evolution in public financial management frameworks. Many of our Member States have enacted fiscal responsibility laws, digitalized their tax systems, and strengthened budget accountability. Yet, implementation remains uneven. The distance between policy formulation and practical impact remains wide.

This gap is not merely technical; it is structural. It reflects limitations in institutional capacity, coordination, and political will. But it also reflects an opportunity, an opportunity for reform-minded leadership, for innovation, and for partnerships anchored in evidence and results.

Think tanks and policy institutes, many represented here today, are essential to closing that gap. You generate knowledge, provide analysis, and help governments navigate the complex terrain of fiscal reforms. But we must go further. We must create mechanisms where evidence directly informs budgets, where research translates into regulation, and where reform ideas are tracked, measured, and sustained.

Domestic Resource Mobilization: The Cornerstone of Fiscal Sovereignty

The African Union Commission continues to place Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) at the centre of our continental agenda. We cannot achieve sustainable development or genuine economic sovereignty without strengthening our capacity to raise, manage, and retain our own resources.

We are advancing reforms under the African Financial Institutions framework and working closely with Member States to harmonize tax regimes, curb illicit financial flows, and promote fair and efficient revenue systems. But we must also remember that taxation is not merely about revenue, it is about trust. Citizens pay taxes when they believe their contributions are used wisely. Therefore, accountable governance must go hand in hand with domestic resource mobilization.

However, one must remember that Africa's pursuit towards fiscal sovereignty through Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) is fundamentally constrained by a global financial architecture. The continent faces a massive hemorrhage of capital through Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs), including corporate profit shifting and trade misinvoicing, which directly drains potential tax revenue. Furthermore, an overwhelming external debt burden forces governments to divert scarce domestic revenues to service loans, starving the very public services that build taxpayer trust and legitimize the entire social contract of taxation.

Consequently, Africa faces a sovereignty paradox: it is striving to achieve financial self-reliance within a global system that is structurally biased. While internal reforms to improve governance and harmonize tax regimes are crucial, they are insufficient alone. Without concurrent and unified continental advocacy to reform the inequities of the global financial architecture, curbing IFFs, restructuring debt, and securing a fairer global tax order, Africa's ambitious DRM strategy will continue to be an uphill battle, with its potential for genuine economic sovereignty remaining only partially fulfilled.

Yet, there is a powerful and hopeful counter-movement. The African Union's deliberate efforts to harmonize tax policies and curb IFFs represent a crucial step toward collective strength. Among others, a major milestone in Africa’s journey toward financial independence and reform of the global credit rating landscape was reached in September 2025, as Mauritius was announced to Host the African Continental Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA), envisioned as a complementary institution to existing global credit rating agencies, with a mandate to deliver fair, independent, and contextually accurate assessments of African economies. It seeks to correct systemic biases and outdated methodologies that have historically disadvantaged African nations in global financial markets.

Think Tanks as Catalysts for Implementation

The Africa Think Tank Summit has consistently provided a platform for generating homegrown policy solutions. But as we stand at the midpoint of Agenda 2063’s First Ten-Year Implementation Plan, this Summit must go beyond discussion to action.

We must invest in the science of policy translation, the systems that ensure research informs reform, and reform drives transformation. We must strengthen collaboration between think tanks and governments, between universities and parliaments, between ministries and citizens. The African Union is committed to providing the continental framework that connects these dots, ensuring that ideas do not end at publication, but begin at implementation.

This is why the African Union in partnership with the World Bank, launched the African Think Tankl Platform (ATTP) on 24 July 2025 to strengthen African think tanks and support evidence-based policymaking. This five-year, $50 million initiative, funded by the World Bank, aims to foster collaborative research and policy work on key development challenges, aligning with the AU's Agenda 2063 and the World Bank's Africa Strategy. 

A Call to Action

Colleagues, Africa’s fiscal transformation will not be driven by declarations, but by deliberate design. It will depend on our courage to implement, to monitor, to reform, and to be accountable. It will depend on partnerships, between state and society, between government and knowledge institutions, between Africa and its Diaspora.

Let this Summit be remembered not only for its theme, but for its outcomes. Let it produce new frameworks for policy uptake, new coalitions for reform, and renewed political resolve for action.

As I look around this room, I am inspired by the depth of expertise represented here and by the shared conviction that Africa’s prosperity must be financed by Africa’s own strength. Together, we can move from taxation to transformation, from policy to practice, and from aspiration to achievement.

And may this Summit mark another milestone in Africa’s journey toward fiscal sovereignty, accountable governance, and sustainable development.

Thank you.