Day one of the Africa Energy Summit 2025 kicked off in Dar es Salaam with several pledges from multilateral institutions and global funders. The two-day gathering, which began on January 27, 2025, is hosted through a collaboration between the Government of Tanzania, the African Union, the African Development Bank Group, the World Bank Group, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
The gathering is part of Mission 300, an initiative by the African Development Bank Group, the World Bank Group, and partners aimed at connecting electricity to 300 million out of 600 million people without electricity in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. Speaking during the first panel of the day, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank Group, emphasized the importance of action at the summit.
“This is mission-critical… it’s about those people who are not here; it’s about small and medium-sized enterprises that are simply trying to access electricity,” Adesina explained. “We must listen, hear, and feel their need, and we must make sure this summit is action-driven.”
Pledges
As the first day continued, several global institutions made pledges to Mission 300. In one of the panel hosted by the CEO of the M300 Accelerator from Rockefeller Catalytic, Mr. Andrew Herscowitz, various global partners made their commitments. The President of the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB), Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser, pledged USD 2.65 billion through various institutions under ISDB.
“Looking forward, we in the Islamic Development Bank are very bullish on Africa, and I believe we can commit 2.65 billion dollars,” Dr. Al Jasser said.
One billion dollars is expected to come from the bank itself, USD 150 million from the private arm of the bank, ICD, and USD 1.5 billion from the bank’s trade financing corporation. The insurance arm of the bank is expected to provide about USD 2 billion in insurance cover for these activities.
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The CEO of the French Development Agency (AFD), Rémy Rioux, made an initial commitment to increase their investment by 50 percent in line with the mission milestone of 2030. AFD currently has a 2 billion euro energy portfolio, with around 150 million euros already invested in electricity access.
Meanwhile, Jin Liqun, the President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), committed USD 1.5 billion.
“I have highlighted again and again to other regional and European members why we should support Africa and sub-Saharan Africa—because this is the future. In the 21st century, Africa is going to be the growth engine,” Jin emphasized.
The OPEC Fund, which highlighted it has invested USD 1.6 billion across Africa, also committed one billion dollars to the mission.
“We will pledge one billion US dollars in support of Mission 300,” explained Dr. Mahmoud Khene, Regional Director and Special Representative of the President of the OPEC Fund.
He continued: “We will assess and evaluate the situation at mid-term, which will be the end of 2027, and if the progress and needs continue, and if new countries adhere to and come up with national compacts, we will consider topping this up by another billion.”
Regulations
A key issue emphasized across several panels was the importance of regulatory predictability to ensure the inflow of capital into the region. “Mission 300 looks very promising, but of course, the devil is in the details. We need to get it right this time,” Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser said.
“To get it right, the private sector must play a pivotal role in this operation. The regulatory regime must be conducive to the private sector’s participation,” he continued.
Dr. Al Jasser highlighted the need for a clear separation and collaboration between institutions ensuring compliance and those responsible for providing the services. The importance of regulatory predictability was also stressed by the President of the World Bank, Mr. Ajay Banga.
“The moment you create unpredictability in that regulatory policy framework, you lead people to decide to take their money and go play elsewhere,” Mr. Banga explained.
The summit is expected to conclude tomorrow, January 28, 2025, with the signing of the national energy compacts by 12 African countries and a declaration on Mission 300 by the heads of state.
