Guterres Tells Africa Forward Summit: Continent Must Have Greater Voice in Global Institutions

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told leaders gathered in Nairobi that Africa continues to advance and demands investment at scale, justice in global systems, and partnerships grounded in respect. Guterres delivered the remarks on 12 May 2026 at the opening of the Africa Forward Summit, which was co-hosted in Nairobi by Kenyan President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron.

"The name of this Summit captures the moment - and the mission," he said.

Africa is driving the debate around reforming global financial institutions designed in 1945. The continent played a leading role in getting the Pact for the Future approved, building new tools for debt negotiations, and challenging credit ratings systems. African leadership helped secure the Sevilla Commitment on expanding lending by multilateral development banks.

Africa, alongside small island States, put the climate emergency at the centre of the global agenda. "This is not a continent waiting for solutions. This is a continent producing them," Guterres said.

Yet he pointed to structural obstacles that remain. Africa has no permanent seats on the UN Security Council. 5 billion people but holds limited decision-making power within international financial institutions.

"It is the world that loses by the fact that the voice of Africa is not taken into account," Guterres said. Official development assistance is falling and aid budgets are being cut when needs are at their highest. Guterres described falling ODA as not only a financing crisis but a crisis of solidarity.

He noted that although Africa did not cause climate change, the continent bears some of its harshest consequences including displaced communities, food insecurity and economic shocks. Africa holds 60 per cent of the world's best solar potential but receives only two per cent of overall clean energy investment.

With the right finance, Africa could generate ten times more electricity than it needs by 2040 entirely from renewables.

Six hundred million Africans live without electricity. A billion people in Africa still rely on unclean cooking fuels, responsible for some 800,000 deaths annually, mostly women and children. Guterres said the people of Africa must benefit first and most from the resources of Africa.

He called for international partnership with Africa built on equality, complementarity, and mutual benefit. By mid-century one in four people worldwide will be African. "The largest transformation of this century is not a market - it is a generation," Guterres said, referring to Africa's youth.

"The success of this continent is not Africa's interest alone - it is the world's," he said.