Africa’s extractive sector has been the fortune and the curse of many African economies. Those States that have discovered significant reserves of naturals resources (like oil, diamonds, gold, and other minerals), have neglected other sectors becoming dependent on a few commodities, in many cases growing less than other States that do not have such resources. But this narrative is now changing. The global rush to shift from fossil-based systems of energy production and consumption (including oil, natural gas and coal) to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, is putting on the spotlight again the mineral resources, especially those metals that are critical to the energy transition, such as cobalt, copper, tin, graphite, lithium, manganese and titanium. Demand for these metals is set to explode over the coming decades driven by the growth in demand of electric vehicles (EVs), wind turbines, and solar photovoltaic technologies. Only the EV demand, according to recent research, is expected to grow by almost 300 times between 2020 and 2050.

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NEPAD, the development agency of the African Union responsible for coordinating and executing priority regional and continental development projects that promote economic integration in Africa, just released the Second Agenda 2063 ten-year implementation plan covering the 2024 – 2033 period. Agenda 2063 is a long-term strategy (covering a period of 50 years) that was adopted in 2013 by the African Union (AU) on the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Organisation of African Unity (the predecessor of the AU), to guide Africa's development for the next half-century. Its purpose is to identify a series of objectives (called “aspirations”) that aim at transforming the continent into a global powerhouse by 2063. Agenda 2063 is implemented by a series of Ten-Year Plans. The first one, referred to the period 2014-2023, was adopted by the AU Heads of States and Government Assembly in June 2015. The current one was adopted at the recently concluded 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the AU held in Addis Ababa from 17th to 18th February 2024.

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