📅 Date: Friday, 12 June 2026

⏰ Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. EAT  (EAT)

Although many African economies have experienced periods of growth, they face deep structural challenges such as low productivity, weak industrial transformation, widespread informality, unemployment, and dependence on commodities and imports. Fiscal pressures, climate shocks, geopolitical disruptions, and global economic volatility have further constrained development and exposed vulnerabilities. A key issue highlighted is the “implementation gap,” where well-designed policies and strategies fail to translate into large-scale economic transformation because they cannot link well to financing, productive sectors, and coherent macroeconomic frameworks.

Industrialization—particularly manufacturing and other productive sectors such as agro-processing, tourism, ICT-enabled services, logistics, and trade- remains essential for creating jobs, raising productivity, and driving structural transformation in Africa. At the same time, rapid technological change, demographic growth, and shifting global economic dynamics require Africa to develop industries that are resilient, innovative, labour-intensive, and capable of integrating frontier technologies while leveraging the continent’s natural resources and regional trade potential.

Building on the discussions and insights emerging from the “Industries of the Future- Transformative and Labour-Intensive Sectors” held on 12 May 2026, hosted by the @UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Africa Development Impact Forum (ADIF), the thematic plenary session aims to identify major themes related to industrial transformation, technological upgrading, resilience, implementation gaps, regional integration, and domestic capability-building. The session aims to move from stocktaking and strategic reflection toward implementation-oriented dialogue by identifying actionable pathways and strategic partnerships.