Daily News, 19 February 2026
SADC Calls for Stronger Public–Private Partnerships to Unlock Mineral-Led Growth (Trendsnafrica)
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has urged Member States and industry leaders to deepen public–private partnerships to accelerate mineral investment, stimulate job creation, and drive inclusive economic growth across the region.
This call was made at the inaugural SADC Ministerial High-Level Public–Private Mining Forum, held on 10 February 2026 on the sidelines of the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town. Delivering remarks on behalf of South Africa’s Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources and Chairperson of the SADC Committee of Ministers responsible for Mining, Honourable Gwede Mantashe, Deputy Minister Honourable Phumzile Mgcina underscored the critical need for strengthened collaboration between governments, the private sector, and communities. She stressed that closer cooperation is essential to harmonise policies, optimise resource utilisation, and project a unified African voice in global mining discourse.
SADC Executive Secretary, Elias Mpedi Magosi, reiterated that the region’s minerals strategy is grounded in a coordinated regional framework designed to maximise the developmental impact of finite mineral resources. He emphasised that mineral exploitation must advance sustainable economic growth, industrialisation, and inter-generational equity. Magosi highlighted several key policy instruments guiding the sector, including the SADC Mining Protocol, the Regional Mining Vision, and the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (2015–2063). He presented SADC’s value proposition to investors, describing the region as coordinated, competitive, and investment-ready, with strong institutional frameworks supporting long-term growth.
EAC must halt raw exports, build strong value chains to fix trade gaps – lobby (The Star)
Kenya and its East African neighbours need to curb the export of raw materials and invest in value chains to reduce trade deficit with China and other foreign markets, business leaders have stated.
Speaking at a high-level Nairobi seminar on expanding Kenya–Asia trade corridor, KEPSA Chair and East African Business Council Kenya Vice Chair Jaswinder Bedi, said that lack of information and weal value chain has seen markets exploited.
Bedi noted that Kenya imports nearly $5 billion (Sh645 billion) worth of Chinese goods annually but exports barely $100 million (Sh12.9 billion) in return. “The trade deficit is largely in their favour, East Africa needs to broaden its export basket and move from selling commodities to exporting finished goods,” said Bedi.
EABC Rwanda Vice Chair Denis Karera said Africa’s failure to organise its production systems has turned the continent into a supplier of cheap primary commodities – only to buy back expensive finished products from abroad.
EAC charts path to economic cooperation amid declining foreign aid (The Citizen)
In response to declining foreign aid and shifting trade policies from major global economies, the leadership of the East African Community (EAC) has unveiled a strategic roadmap aimed at strengthening regional economic self-reliance and promoting sustainable development.
The plan highlights key measures such as trade policy reforms, diversification of commercial activities, promotion of intra-EAC trade, and the pursuit of bilateral agreements with key international partners.
These initiatives were outlined by Chairperson of the East African Business Council (EABC), Mr John Lual Akol who presented the Council’s 2026 agenda to boost implementation and sustain economic growth despite dwindling aid flows and changing global trade dynamics.
“Our commitment to fostering a conducive business environment in East Africa to support sustainable economic growth will face heightened challenges this year due to reductions in foreign aid and protectionist policies by major economies,” Akol said.
40% of gov’t procurement must go to African firms – Africa Business Council President (The Business & Financial Times)
The president of the Africa Business Council, Dr. Amany Asfour has called for African governments to reserve at least 40% of public procurement for continental businesses, arguing that preferential treatment for African firms is essential to implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
Speaking during a session on the AfCFTA podcast, Dr. Amany Asfour said the policy would ensure that products available on African soil are purchased from African suppliers rather than imported from outside the continent. “When I have something on the African soil, we should not bring it from outside the African soil,” Dr. Asfour proposed, pointing to Egypt’s 400 medical consumer supply industries as an example of existing capacity being overlooked in favour of imports.
The recommendation emerged from the African Union Private Sector Forum, which the Africa Business Council leads, and represents a bold attempt to translate the AfCFTA’s trade liberalisation commitments into concrete industrial development outcomes.
AfCFTA positioned as cornerstone for Africa’s prosperity amid global economic uncertainty (The Business & Financial Times)
Experts have argued during a high-level dialogue at the World Economic Forum that deeper regional integration, stronger value chains, and decisive private sector engagement will determine Africa’s ability to prosper in the new global economy.
The high-level dialogue of policymakers and business leaders which was graced by Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, took place on the margins of the World Economic Forum had the theme ”How can Africa prosper in the new economy,” exploring how Africa can navigate global economic uncertainty, harness innovation, and unlock inclusive growth.
The dialogue unfolded against a backdrop of significant challenges facing the global economy, including geopolitical tensions, technological disruption, climate change impacts, and shifts in traditional trade relationships. For Africa, these challenges are compounded by structural constraints but also present opportunities for the continent to chart a distinctive path to development.
China’s efforts in African infrastructure hailed (China Daily)
China has been hailed as an important infrastructure financing partner in Africa, as leaders on the continent call for stronger partnerships aligned with domestic industrial growth and greater mobilization of local capital.
Speaking with China Daily on Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ahead of this year’s African Union Summit this weekend, Lerato Dorothy Mataboge, commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy at the African Union Commission, said China has contributed significantly to Africa’s infrastructural development, which is crucial to the continent’s sustainable progress.
She said this positions China as a strategic partner in efforts to bridge long-standing infrastructure gaps. Mataboge emphasized that the future partnership can move beyond financing and focus on aligning with Africa’s broader industrial ambitions through stronger local content requirements, skills transfer and domestic value addition.
Africa-US relations: The continent grapples with the new world order (BBC)
Africa’s heads of state are gathering in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for their annual meeting this weekend at a time when the continent’s place in the world appears to be in flux.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking in Davos last month, described an arresting image of the future of international relations: either countries were at the table or they were on the menu.
For Africa’s leaders, who for years have been arguing that they should be dining at the top table, it was not an unfamiliar analogy. But in his second term, US President Donald Trump has accelerated the trend towards great-power domination of world affairs and the ditching of multilateralism.
As the White House’s updated security strategy says, not every region in the world can get equal attention. Trump’s pivot towards the Western hemisphere, as well as time spent on the Middle East, has implied less focus on Africa.
The less powerful nations, who may have once relied on the norms, as well as the finance, of global bodies such as the UN, World Bank or World Trade Organization, are now having to re-evaluate relationships.
US tariff shift deepens developing countries’ competitive disadvantage: UNCTAD (Down to Earth)
How trade data is reshaping the fight against plastic pollution (UN Trade and Development)
By the time plastic reaches landfills, and pollutes rivers or the ocean, the most consequential decisions have already been taken — in design, production choices and trade.
Through global trade, plastics enter and leave countries in various forms – as raw materials, products or packaging. These flows largely determine how much plastic circulates in markets and how much pressure waste and recycling systems will eventually face.
Until recently, trade data played only a limited role in plastic pollution debates, limiting policymakers’ ability to respond to an issue of global concern. But that’s changing with the plastics trade database of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It tracks, for the first time, plastics moving across borders using customs data reported by nearly 200 economies, covering the full range from raw materials to finished products and packaging.
African Union Summit
The 39th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union at a Glance Water security is a strategic, development, peace, and climate issue (African Union)
Against the backdrop of statistics that show that 400 million people on the African continent lack water for their daily livelihood, and that over 800 million lack basic hygiene services, African Heads of State and Government will launch the African Union theme of the year “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063”, when they begin their 39th Ordinary Session at the Africa Union headquarters in Addis Ababa on 14th February.
The 2026 theme is linked to Agenda 2063, the African Union’s 50-year development framework aimed at, among others, transformation, inclusive growth, poverty eradication, improved food security, and climate resilience. The theme underscores the critical role of water and sanitation, and acts as a springboard for broader socio-economic development and growth on the continent, in addressing urgent and strategic challenges.
The African Union recognizes that water is more than a sectoral thematic - it is a foundational input into economic development, and life itself. Water security is a strategic, development, peace, and climate issue. It is central to food security, health, climate adaptation and conflict prevention, and is a shared continental priority requiring regional cooperation and investment. Sustainable water management is essential for realizing all the seven aspirations of Agenda 2063.
AUC Chairperson received the Secretary-General of the UN, H.E. António Guterres (AU)
Nairobi in Focus as AU and Kenya Shape France–Africa Summit Agenda (The Voice of Africa)
Nigeria Secures Permanent Seat On African Central Bank Board At AU Summit (Arise News)
