Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), has urged a shift from rhetoric to results, calling for financial instruments that reflect Africa’s development needs. ALSO READ: Africa must finance her future, and that is now! Speaking at a joint side event hosted by the UN’s five regional commissions at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, Spain, on June 30, Gatete said the continent is already piloting solutions, but global financing systems must adapt. ALSO READ: Kagame: Now is the time to make international financial system fit for purpose “Innovative financing instruments are no longer optional. They are essential,” Gatete said, underscoring that “the current system continues to limit Africa’s access to affordable finance, despite the continent’s investment potential and development needs. He outlined a series of ECA-led initiatives aimed at bridging the growing financing gap while supporting economic transformation. These include a debt-for-nature and industrialization swap piloted in DR Congo, which ties debt relief to the development of green value chains, including battery and electric vehicle manufacturing, and the Sustainable Debt Coalition, a platform coordinated by ECA to help African countries access climate finance on better terms and scale up sustainable borrowing. Another initiative is an African Investment Map, currently in development, designed to help de-risk investment opportunities and guide capital toward high-impact, bankable projects. Gatete emphasized that these are not abstract ideas, but tools already being piloted across the continent to align debt relief, climate action and long-term investment. He underscored the importance of country platforms that align national priorities, improve coordination across ministries, and provide the transparency needed to attract long term investment. “Unlocking private finance requires more than good ideas. It requires trust, coherence, and credible institutions,” he said. The side event was part of a broader push by the five UN regional commissions - ECA, ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP and ESCWA - to emphasize regional solutions to global development finance challenges. Their joint policy brief, Road to Seville, outlines proposals across five areas: domestic resource mobilization, debt sustainability, global economic governance, international cooperation and private finance.
