FES AU Office at the AU Conference on Debt in Lomé, Togo: Championing African Ownership and Trade Union Demands

05/16/2025: Lome, Togo: On the margins of the 2025 African Union Conference on Debt in Lomé, Togo, 12- 14 May 2025, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) African Union Cooperation Office successfully co-hosted two impactful side events that amplified African voices and priorities in the global debt discourse. The first, a breakfast meeting co-organized with the African Union and AFRODAD, focused on “The Case for the Establishment of the African Debt Monitoring Mechanism (ADMM)”. The session convened policymakers, experts from national Debt Management Offices, AU member states, financial institutions, and civil society leaders to address a key gap: Africa’s lack of a centralized, independent mechanism to gather and standardize debt-related data. Participants stressed that continued reliance on external data sources undermines Africa’s agency in debt negotiations and perpetuates structural inequalities in global financial governance. The session made a compelling case for the ADMM as a transformative tool to advance transparency, data sovereignty, and collective debt governance on the continent.

In the afternoon, a second side event titled “Trade Unions, Debt and Economic Justice”, co-hosted with ITUC-Africa, highlighted the deep social impacts of unsustainable debt. Trade union leaders from Chad, Mozambique, and Nigeria shared how the prioritization of debt repayment has severely curtailed public investment in essential services such as healthcare, education, and social protection—disproportionately affecting workers, especially those in the informal economy. The discussion emphasized the need for structural reforms in the international financial system and presented concrete policy proposals to guide Africa’s engagement at the upcoming UN Financing for Development Conference (FfD4) in Seville. The session underlined the importance of developing an African Common Position on Debt that reflects workers' rights, inclusive development, and social justice.

Together, these two events reaffirmed the urgency of African-led solutions to the continent’s debt challenges. They fostered renewed momentum for building a just and equitable global financial architecture—one that empowers African states not just as participants, but as key actors shaping the future of development finance.

For more information, please contact Mr. Amanuel Desalegne, Head of Project, FES AU Cooperation Office at Amanuel.Desalegne(at)fes.de