WAES 2025 Concludes with Landmark Commitments to Regional Trade and Youth Inclusion
WAES 2025 Concludes with Landmark Commitments to Regional Trade, Youth Inclusion & Private Sector Growth
The West Africa Economic Summit (WAES) 2025 concluded today in Abuja after two days of high-level engagements, partnership announcements, and visionary dialogue. The event reinforced West Africa’s commitment to regional trade, investment, and inclusive growth under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
With policymakers and diplomats to investors, creators, youth entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders in attendance, WAES 2025 delivered both ideas and outcomes, cementing its reputation as the region’s most transformative economic convening.
The summit opened with powerful remarks from Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar (OON), Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers. Speaking to a room filled with heads of state, business leaders, and regional stakeholders, Ambassador Tuggar emphasised the urgent need to “reset the vision” for West Africa’s economic future. He noted that the transformation of the region would be driven not by abstract policies alone, but by the creativity and ingenuity of its people. He stressed that governments must understand the limits of their control and instead focus on creating enabling environments to support growth.
He also called for inspiration from history, referencing the flourishing trade routes that existed across the Sahel and forest zones long before colonial maps and treaties. Tuggar described markets as part of the region’s DNA and encouraged participants to write the next chapter of that story through innovation and cooperation.
His Excellency, The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, captured the urgency of the moment by stating that “opportunity is not destiny,” reminding attendees that West Africa must earn its future through deliberate integration, coherent policy, and collaborative capital deployment.
He added;
“The global economy will not wait for West Africa to get its act together, and neither should we.”
Day two of the summit saw the unveiling of the WAES Youth Investment Pipeline, blended finance initiative aimed at scaling youth-led enterprises across the region. The announcement was met with applause, particularly by the younger delegates, many of whom participated in the Youth Economic Inclusion Forum.
President Tinubu underscored this point, warning that the region’s demographic dividend could become a liability if governments failed to invest adequately in education, digital infrastructure, and youth enterprise.
“No one country can do this alone,” he remarked. “Our prosperity depends on regional supply chains, energy networks, and data frameworks. We must design them together or they will collapse separately.”
The private sector also came to the table with actionable pledges. First Bank, NNPC Limited, Flutterwave, and Suburban Technologies were among several companies showcasing innovation, entering deal rooms, and forming partnerships between the public and private sectors. From infrastructure to fintech, the summit provided a platform for deals to be discussed and ultimately brokered.
A central discussion point was the region’s trade imbalance. Tuggar called the trend untenable and urged stakeholders to move away from extractive trade practices and toward integrated, value-creating ecosystems.
He stressed that trade bottlenecks, informal economies, and regulatory friction were not insurmountable barriers but invitations to rethink governance frameworks. Governments, he argued, must support and not stifle the dynamism of African entrepreneurs.
Echoing this sentiment, President Tinubu challenged the region to “turn mineral wealth into domestic economic value jobs, technology, and manufacturing,” adding that “the era of pit to port must end.” He encouraged countries to move from lofty declarations to concrete deals and implementation.
WAES 2025 culminated in the signing of the West Africa Trade Acceleration Declaration, with member states and corporate partners committing to streamline cross-border trade, enhance local manufacturing, and prioritise regional supply chains. The declaration underscores the importance of cooperation over competition, and ambition over dependency.
In his closing remarks, Ambassador Tuggar reinforced the role of regional collaboration. He stated that the time had come to stop outsourcing the region’s future and to take full control of its economic destiny.
President Tinubu closed the summit with a final call to action:
“Let us emerge from this summit with actionable outcomes: a renewed commitment to ease of doing business, enhanced intra-regional trade, improved infrastructure connectivity, and innovative ideas that move our people from poverty to prosperity. Let us build a West Africa that is investable, competitive, and resilient, one that leads with vision, responsibility, and unity.”
WAES 2025 will be remembered not just for its energy and progress-driven momentum but also for its outcomes: policy recommendations, investment pledges, and a renewed sense of purpose. Follow @waesummit to stay in the loop.
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Source: Legit.ng
