African Development Bank (AfDB) President Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina unveiled two landmark programmes totaling US$6 billion at the Bank’s Annual Meetings in Abidjan on Thursday. The first is a US$3 billion initiative to upgrade health infrastructure across Africa, and the second is a parallel US$3 billion drive to bolster the continent’s capacity for local pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Addressing delegates, Dr. Adesina announced the creation of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation. “We created a new institution, the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation, to enable Africa gain access to intellectual property rights, and to protected technologies and processes for manufacturing medicines and vaccines,” he said.
Turning to agriculture, the AfDB president touted the Bank’s decade-long efforts to strengthen food security on the continent. “In ten years, our work allowed 104 million Africans to achieve food security as well as provide 13 million farmers with access to improved agricultural technologies,” he noted. He recalled the global concerns over African food shortages after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and credited the AfDB’s US$1.5 billion emergency food production facility for averting a crisis.
“In just two years, our support had allowed 14 million farmers across 30 countries to have access to improved seeds and fertilizers,” Dr. Adesina continued. “This led to the production of 44 million tons of food—116 percent above the target—worth US$17.3 billion.” He highlighted Ethiopia’s dramatic expansion of heat-tolerant wheat cultivation from 5,000 hectares in 2018 to over 650,000 hectares by 2023, achieving self-sufficiency in wheat.
Dr. Adesina also hailed last year’s Feed Africa Summit in Dakar, where over 30 African heads of state signed Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts to accelerate domestic production. “Seventy-two billion dollars was mobilised globally for Africa’s food security,” he said.
Shifting focus to energy, he described the joint AfDB–World Bank Mission 300 launched in Dar es Salaam, aiming to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030. At January’s Africa Energy Summit, co-chaired with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, delegates endorsed the Dar es Salaam Declaration on Energy Access. “The Declaration marks an unprecedented continental commitment to accelerate energy access through coordinated national actions, regional interconnections, and enhanced investment in renewables and grid expansion,” Dr. Adesina said, adding that approximately US$55 billion has been mobilised in support of national energy compacts.
The 2025 Annual Meetings, held under the theme “Making Africa’s Capital Work Better for Africa’s Development,” also include the election of Dr. Adesina’s successor, as his second term concludes on August 31. Participants will debate strategies to strengthen regional markets, deepen value chains, and position Africa amid shifting global trade dynamics, including new U.S. tariff regimes and evolving development-finance flows. Sessions will cover infrastructure financing, climate action, food security, digital innovation and private-sector engagement.
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