28/10/2025
MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
PRESS STATEMENT
For immediate release
Luanda, Angola, 28th October 2025: The 3rd Summit on Financing for Africa’s Infrastructure Development has officially opened in the Angolan capital, Luanda today with a strong affirmation by Zambia to proactively collaborate and partner with other African countries and stakeholders in bridging the continent’s infrastructure financing gap running into billions of United States dollars.
During the Summit which will run from 28th to 31st October, 2025, in line with the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063’s collective aspiration for world-class infrastructure that connects the entire continent by road, rail, air, power networks, and digital links, President Hakainde Hichilema is being represented by Minister of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, Eng. Charles Milupi.
The Summit heard that Africa needs an estimated US$130-US$170 billion in infrastructure investment per year, yet only about US$80 billion was currently financed, hence the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and African governments convening the third Luanda Financing Summit for Africa’s Infrastructure Development, with the aim to accelerate investment mobilisation for Africa’s infrastructure and industrialisation priorities.
Contributing to a panel discussion themed, Dialogue for an Integrated, Connected, and Prosperous Africa: Mobilising Coordinated Political Will to Finance Infrastructure and Intra-African Trade, Eng. Milupi said for Zambia, any discussion on the significance of corridor infrastructure was not merely technical but strategic, especially that connectivity in all its forms was the foundation of Africa’s integration and shared prosperity.
The panel session was designed to be a platform for Africa’s leaders to affirm their commitment to infrastructure development and the deepening of intra-African trade, as well as to give a voice to the African and global financing community, development finance institutions, multilateral development banks, sovereign wealth and pension funds, and private investors, to respond to the political declarations.
Eng. Milupi said connectivity in Zambia’s case, under the New Dawn administration, speaks to how the country was building infrastructure that connects people, industries, and ideas to regional, continental and global value-chains through cross-border corridor infrastructure, seamlessly connected through efficient, integrated, and sustainable transport networks.
He outlined that Zambia’s infrastructure agenda, primarily driven through the public-private partnership financing model, was anchored on ensuring that every kilometre of road, railway, power grid, and fibre-optic line contributes to a seamless and secure network linking the country to her neighbours, facilitating trade and positioning Zambia as a true land-linked hub of the continent.
Eng. Milupi stressed that Africa’s competitiveness depends on the quality and intelligence of its corridors and that Zambia’s ongoing initiatives in that direction, such as the Lobito, Dar es Salaam and North-South, Walvis Bay, and Nacala corridors, offer diversified export routes for copper, cobalt, critical minerals, agricultural and livestock products, as well as manufactured goods.
He called on governments, investors, and innovators to partner with the Zambian government in building smarter corridors that integrate technology with transport; greener systems that reduce emissions and improve efficiency; and stronger regional partnerships that will ensure Africa was truly interconnected.
Eng. Milupi bemoaned that one of the factors that contribute to the low share of intra-African trade, which stands at 16 percent while trade between Africa and the Asian, European, and the USA markets stands at about 84 percent, was infrastructure deficits, adding that the Luanda Summit was therefore Africa’s collective response to this low trade volume among African nations.
Issued by:
(Original signed)
Mwala Kalaluka (Mr)
Acting/PRINCIPAL PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER Part 12
