Theme: African Perspectives on the Changing World Order

Video Recorded Statement

20th September 2025 | Location: New York, USA

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Distinguished colleagues,
esteemed partners,
and friends of Africa,

I am honoured to address you through this recorded message as we mark the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, I would have sincerely wished to be in person with you in this very important event. My profound gratitude goes to the Amandla Institute for Policy and Leadership Advancement for convening this timely dialogue and for the visionary leadership it has shown since its impressive launch earlier this year.

We meet in a moment of profound transformation—not to lament what has been but to take stock and celebrate what we have built. History teaches us that fortune favours the bold. Africa has been bold—enduring, adapting, advancing. Our confidence is built from within, and it is hard-earned.

Let us acknowledge our reality with honesty. We face complex security challenges from Sudan to the Sahel. We bear unequal climate burdens we did not create. We navigate economic headwinds beyond our immediate control. And yet these pressures have forged a singular strength: the ability to innovate under constraint, to unite across diversity, and to turn challenge into decisive action. This is not rhetoric; this is Pan-Africanism in practice.

Allow me to highlight three anchors of that practice that demonstrate Africa's agency in action.

First, African Solutions, African Leadership, and African Resources. Africa's peace-and-security architecture is being financed and owned by Africans themselves. The AU Peace Fund now stands capitalized and operational—a sophisticated instrument designed for conflict prevention, mediation, and rapid response.

Second, African Unity and Solidarity. The African Continental Free Trade Area does more than connect our markets and people—it restores pathways of commerce and collaboration that existed long before artificial borders were imposed upon us. This integration reflects our deepest understanding: that unity and collective action have always been Africa's comparative advantage and remain so today.

Third, Africa's Indispensable Voice in Global Discourse. Our permanent seat in the G20 affirms what we have always known, but the world is finally recognizing: Africa is indispensable to solving global problems. From this position of influence, we bring values of inclusion, equity, and responsiveness to international deliberations. We do not simply occupy a seat—we model what genuine partnership looks like in practice.

These achievements flow from our greatest source of strength, which remains our people. We are a continent of over 1.4 billion souls, rich in languages, diverse in cultures, boundless in creativity and innovation.

Our youth are not waiting for permission to lead—they are already reshaping industries from fintech to renewable energy, from agricultural technology to creative arts.
Our heritage is not a museum piece preserved in glass cases; it is a living philosophy—Ubuntu, solidarity, shared responsibility—that guides how we govern our nations, conduct our trade, and care for our planet.

Ladies and gentlemen,
This moment calls for clear messages to our different audiences. To my fellow Africans, I say this: The changing world order presents Africa with unprecedented opportunity, and we approach this moment with the confidence that comes from knowing ourselves. We should not wait for permission from anyone—we must exercise our rightful agency as Africans.

To our global partners, we extend an invitation to support our legitimate quest for an equitable global financial order, for Africa’s representation in the UN Security Council in line with the Sirte Declaration and Ezulwini Consensus.

Support Africa's innovation and stand with African leadership in multilateral reform. Such an equitable partnership is to be grounded in mutual respect and shared benefit. The evidence is clear: when Africa rises, global prosperity and stability follow.

As the world navigates uncharted waters, Africa will not drift—we will chart our course. Guided by a Pan-African spirit and anchored in the enduring principles of Ubuntu, Africa must shape this changing order confidently, constructively, and collaboratively.

I wish you fruitful deliberations. May your conversations deepen understanding, strengthen partnerships, and advance a future in which Africa stands—unmistakably and unshakably—at the center of the changing world order.

Thank you.