MILAN – The Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city, is hosting the G25 African Coffee Summit today and tomorrow (21–22 February 2025), bringing together leaders from 25 producing countries to discuss strategies to increase production and added value of the African coffee supply chain and strengthen the continent’s role in the global coffee market.
Africa is home to Arabica and Robusta coffee with diverse and unique flavor, and has over 53% of its rural population involved in coffee farming. However, structural constraints and climate challenges hinder the sector’s growth. The summit aims to rejuvenate Africa’s coffee industry by involving youth, enhancing value addition, and addressing systemic barriers.
Aware that coffee is critical to African economies and is a source of livelihood to at least 60 million people across the continent, IACO (Inter-African Coffee Organisation) held the 1st G-25 Africa Coffee Summit in Nairobi in May 2022 to re-evaluate the overall performance of the coffee sector in Africa and pursue the highest-level political authorities to finalise the process for the inclusion of coffee as a strategic commodity in the African Union’s Africa Agenda 2063.
The 2nd Summit took place in Kampala, Uganda, from 7th to 10th August 2023.
The 3rd G-25 Africa Coffee Summit will be hosted by H.E. Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, with participation from the Heads of State from African coffee growing countries, Ministers of Agriculture, Senior Government Officials, Private Sector including coffee growers, processors, traders and relevant stakeholders in the coffee value chain.
The theme of the Summit is “Unlocking employment opportunities for the youth through regeneration of the African coffee industry’. This Summit aims to outline a collaborative framework involving the African Union, its agencies, African Development Banks and African Financial Institutions to develop programs focused on youth employment and entrepreneurship.
In addition, the Summit will also explore various areas in the coffee value chain that have the potential to create employment opportunities for youth in both coffee-producing and consuming countries. It will address avenues for accessing finance for coffee-related projects through frameworks such as the AU/AfCFTA and regional financial institutions, including but not limited to the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Export–Import Bank.
The Summit will also recommend the establishment of mechanisms for funding aimed at facilitating youth employment opportunities within the coffee industry.
Notably, the G25 African Coffee Summit initiative emanates from a Resolution adopted at IACO’s 61st Annual General Assembly held in Kigali, Rwanda on 18th November 2021 to hold a high-level G25 African Coffee Summit of the 25 African coffee producing countries to re-evaluate the underperformance of the coffee sector in Africa. As such, the first G25 African Coffee Summit was held in Kenya in May 2022 in which the “Nairobi Declaration” was approved and signed to integrate “coffee” as a strategic anchor commodity in the African Union (AU) in harmony with the African Union Agenda 2063.
Subsequently, at the 2nd G25 African Coffee Summit held in Kampala, Uganda in August 2023, the “Kampala Declaration” was signed requesting Heads of State of the G25 African Coffee Producing Countries to support the approval and inclusion of “coffee” as a strategic anchor commodity in the AU AGENDA 2063 and the inclusion of IACO as a specialized agency of the African Union at the next Heads of State Assembly of the AU.
At its 37th Ordinary Session held in February 2024 in Addis Ababa, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, adopted the inclusion of coffee as a strategic anchor commodity in the AU AGENDA 2063 as well as the inclusion of IACO as a specialized agency of the African Union. This historic milestone gives IACO leverage to engage with the African Union for policies in agriculture and seek funding for projects in the coffee sector as well as removing trade barriers through the establishment of the Africa Free Trade Agreement in 2018.
The programme of the Summit is available at this link.
