Lomé, November 13, 2025 -(©AfreePress)- At the opening of the 4th United Kingdom–West and Central Francophone Africa Economic Forum (UK-WCAF IV), held for the first time on African soil, President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé called for a new era of cooperation built on investment, value creation, and the complementarity of expertise.
In a speech both visionary and pragmatic, the Togolese Head of State advocated for a genuine “win-win partnership” between the United Kingdom and Francophone Africa, centered on productive infrastructure, SME inclusion, green growth, and regional integration across the continent.
Full speech of President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé
Mr. President of the National Assembly,
Mr. President of the Senate,
Mr. Ben Coleman, Trade Envoy of the British Prime Minister to Francophone Africa,
Distinguished Presidents of the Institutions of the Republic,
Ministers and Heads of Delegations,
Mr. Steven Gray, OBE, Head of West and Central Africa, UK Export Finance (UKEF),
Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Representatives of International Organizations,
Representatives of Technical and Financial Partners,
Members of the Private Sector,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor for my country to host here in Lomé the fourth edition of the United Kingdom–West and Central Francophone Africa Trade and Investment Forum.
This is the first time the forum is being held on African soil, and this is not merely a geographic shift—it is a symbolic one: the shift of the center of gravity of a partnership now rooted more deeply in Africa’s realities, its energy, its youth, and its ambition.
It reflects the trust and recognition of an Africa that is no longer merely a market, but a full-fledged partner. It also reflects the new relationship forged between Togo and the Commonwealth since 2022.
On this occasion, I would like to share five simple convictions that express the vision Togo holds for this renewed partnership between the United Kingdom and Francophone Africa.
First, we are today opening a new chapter in the partnership between the United Kingdom and Francophone Africa.
Both sides share the same ambition: to move from a relationship based on aid and grants to genuine economic relations founded on trade, investment, value creation, and the complementarity of know-how.
We have much to gain together. Our continent offers youth, resources, and innovative potential; the United Kingdom brings expertise, technology, and capital. Lomé stands at the intersection of these two worlds — and Togo embodies this Africa that is opening up and connecting.
With our deep-water port, pro-investment reforms, political stability, and strong regional engagement, our country has become a key point of convergence between Africa and the world.
Beyond ambition, however, we must now build a shared vision. That is the purpose of this forum: to break down linguistic and economic barriers and build bridges of prosperity between the United Kingdom and Francophone Africa.
Second, infrastructure must become the cornerstone of sovereignty, growth, and competitiveness in our region.
Francophone Africa does not need more projects — it needs better projects: better designed, better financed, and better integrated. The goal is to invest to produce, not just to build. Infrastructure here is not a cost — it is a strategic investment.
A port, a road, an electric grid, or a digital network only make sense if they enable our businesses to produce, process, and export more. The most useful infrastructure is that which connects the field to the market, the producer to transformation, and the idea to innovation.
That is the spirit guiding our nation. The modernization of the Port of Lomé, the development of our logistics corridors, and our energy and digital networks all reinforce our role as a regional hub.
We invite our British partners to invest with us in productive infrastructure that supports Africa’s industrial transformation and creates local value — turning investment in concrete into investment in development.
Third, we must bring local actors into the value chains, with a focus on innovation, entrepreneurship, and inclusion.
Development is not decreed — it is built from the ground up, through the fabric of small and medium-sized enterprises, through the creativity of youth, and through the audacity of entrepreneurs. African entrepreneurs, young people, and women must have a central place in this dynamic.
This forum must serve as a platform for the Africa that builds, innovates, and transforms. African SMEs are ready to grow — especially in agribusiness, technology, and services. They are ready to take the next step toward regional and global integration.
What they need is not aid, but smart partnerships. They lack access to capital, training, and technological collaboration. The United Kingdom can play a key role in this ecosystem — by supporting patient investment, connecting incubators, and linking innovation funds.
Investing in African SMEs today is one of the most profitable bets on the continent’s future.
Fourth, green growth and the digital revolution will be the great accelerators of our future prosperity.
I am convinced that the prosperity of tomorrow will rely on these two pillars: clean energy and digital innovation — two forces capable of transforming our economies in a sustainable way.
For many African countries, the dual green and digital transition represents a unique technological leap. It allows us to bypass decades of industrial dependency and invent more sustainable, inclusive, and intelligent models.
Our British partners can help us leapfrog into tomorrow’s economy. Yet this transformation must remain above all human-centered.
Every investment in a solar farm, a fintech company, or a smart city must also be an investment in:
– youth employment,
– women’s access to economic opportunity, and
– social cohesion.
In an increasingly unstable world, sustainability is no longer a luxury — it is our new economic and moral frontier.
Finally, regional integration in Francophone Africa can become the engine of a continental market open to the world.
The success of this forum depends on our ability to think beyond national borders. Country-by-country development strategies no longer make sense. Regional integration is our most effective tool for global success.
British investment in Francophone Africa will only be sustainable if it is based on interconnected regional value chains and shared industrial platforms linking both Francophone and Anglophone markets.
We need regional corridors for goods, cross-border energy networks, and digital ecosystems for services.
These interconnections are the true infrastructure of the future. This is the meaning of our commitment to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which, with 1.4 billion consumers, is creating the world’s largest emerging market.
Investing in Togo today means entering the growth corridor linking Lomé, Lagos, Accra, and Abidjan — and gaining access to both Francophone and Anglophone markets.
For this integration to become a reality, we must also work on regulatory frameworks: harmonizing standards, facilitating trade, simplifying procedures, and ensuring predictable conditions for investors.
Administrative fluidity and regulatory transparency are today the invisible infrastructure of modern trade that our economies need.
By hosting this forum, Lomé seeks to embody an Africa that is open, connected, and confident — an Africa that no longer merely trades with the United Kingdom but chooses to grow with it.
We call upon our British partners to look with us toward the future — to invest not only in traditional infrastructure, but also in the new frontiers of African growth: green energy, local processing of critical raw materials, digital finance, and creative industries.
Together, we can build value chains linking London to Lomé, Yaoundé to Birmingham, Dakar to Manchester. Together, we can transform our resources into wealth, our projects into prosperity, and our cooperation into a shared future.
Thank you.
