ABIDJAN – African leaders addressed themes of continental unity, self-reliance, peace processes, and the role of the private sector during a presidential panel at the Africa CEO Forum 2025 in Abidjan on Monday.
The discussion, held on the first day of the Africa CEO Forum, featured President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania, and Vice President Tiémoko Meyliet Kone of Côte d’Ivoire.
President Kagame emphasised the need for Africa to define its own path and reduce dependency on external actors, irrespective of global political shifts. “We can’t keep depending on what others are saying or doing about us,” he stated. “We need to be working with each other and other countries on the global stage that offer what we need, and offer what they need.”
He argued that the continent should proactively build its own resilience and self-dependence rather than simply reacting to external events. “We should have been building up the momentum in terms of what we need to do to make Africa self-dependent and resilient,” Mr Kagame said, stressing the importance of realising the continent’s potential. “I think that has always been the question. And that comes back to us as a continent as a people of this continent to take the bull by its horns and and deal with the problem.”
Echoing the theme of African agency, President Ramaphosa highlighted the principle of “African solutions for African problems,” particularly concerning peace initiatives. “In the end the end and President Kagame knows this whatever discussions are happening in the end has to be endorsed signed off and owned and appropriated by us as Africans. Because this is our continent,” Mr Ramaphosa asserted.
While acknowledging the support of international partners like Qatar and the US, he stressed ultimate African ownership of peace processes. “We must thank and applaud those who are assisting because they are our partners but we are the owners of the whole process ourselves as Africans,” he added. Mr Ramaphosa also complimented ongoing peace efforts, such as the Nairobi and Luanda processes concerning the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, noting their essential role in confidence-building and reaching ceasefire agreements.
Shifting focus to economic development, President Ghazouani underscored Mauritania’s vision for the private sector as a primary driver of growth and job creation. “It is true that in Mauritania we are in a vision that gives a capital importance of the private sector in the creation of jobs creation of uh of added valued and make the private sector a locomotive of uheconomic development,” he said.
Ghazouani noted that increasing demands on governments necessitate a greater role for private enterprise in financing development and providing services. However, he stressed that state commitment is crucial. “We are convinced that uh the private sector cannot uh fully uh play this role if the states is not committed and putting necessary reforms to build an environment that will be more attractive that will guarantee the legal security of the investments whether na- at the national level international level mo- modernization of infra- infrastructure promotion of human resources,” he explained, citing Mauritania’s new electricity and investment codes as examples of efforts to foster a dynamic private sector.
Founded in 2012, the Africa CEO Forum is the leading platform dedicated to the CEOs of Africa’s largest companies and multinationals, investors, heads of state, ministers, and representatives of key financial institutions active across the continent. The Africa CEO Forum provides a high-level space for networking, experience sharing, and analysis of the trends shaping the business world. Its annual summit aims to offer concrete, innovative solutions to advance the continent and its private sector. The Africa CEO Forum was created by Jeune Afrique Media Group and is co-organized with the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.
