During the 9th Babacar Ndiaye Lecture, former President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Donald Kaberuka, urged African nations to develop strong, integrated institutions to secure their future amidst a fractured global landscape.

• Kaberuka identified five trends reshaping the global economy: the return of mercantilism, rising national interests, the end of the aid era, weakened global institutions, and the erosion of multilateralism.
• He emphasized an ecosystem approach, where institutions across sectors—finance, trade, peace and security, health, and governance—function in coordinated harmony.
• Kaberuka commended the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for supporting initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).