STATEMENT BY H.E. SELMA MALIKA HADDADI AT AT HLPF UNOSAA AFRICA DAY 2025

  Delivered by H.E. Selma Malika Haddadi

Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission

23rd July 2025

Esteemed Colleagues, Friends of Africa, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have the distinct honor of delivering this statement on behalf of the African Union Commission at this critical juncture, as we gather under the theme: “Advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 through inclusive growth and partnerships, social protection, and decent jobs.”

Allow me to extend warm greetings from Addis Ababa and to express our deep appreciation to the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNDP, and all our partners whose steadfast collaboration continues to strengthen the global architecture for sustainable development.

Today, as we launch the 2025 Africa Sustainable Development Report, we bear witness not simply to a document but to a shared compact, a reflection of the progress, lessons, and aspirations that bind our continent to the broader global agenda.

Let me further commend our member states and our global counterparts represented here today. This Africa Day is more than a ceremonial moment; it is a strategic opportunity to reflect, recalibrate, and recommit. Today, we convene not just to discuss, but to cohere, and to interrogate our development trajectory, assess the evidence before us, and chart more determined, integrated pathways forward.

Our theme this year, Advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 through inclusive growth and partnerships, social protection, and decent jobs, compels us to examine the interconnected pillars of development. These are not parallel pursuits — they are mutually reinforcing cornerstones of the Africa We Want

Inclusive growth goes beyond economic statistics. It demands that prosperity be both broad-based and deeply rooted, reaching urban and rural areas, embracing the young and the old, empowering women and men, and advancing the rights of persons with disabilities.

Across our continent, we are seeing promising innovations in financial inclusion, mobile connectivity, and community-led development that are expanding opportunities for those historically excluded from formal systems.

Social protection has evolved from a policy option to a development imperative. We have learned that when citizens have basic security; health coverage, income support during crises, protection in old age, they become more productive, more innovative, and more willing to invest in their futures. African innovations in social protection, from mobile-based systems to community insurance schemes, offer models that merit global attention.

Decent work remains central to human dignity and societal progress. It is not sufficient to create jobs; we must create employment that provides fair wages, safe conditions, and pathways for advancement. This is particularly crucial as our continent prepares to welcome 850 million youth into the workforce by 2050.

To harness this potential, we must invest massively in human capital. We cannot achieve the transformation envisioned in Agenda 2063 without massive investments in human capital. This means not only universal access to quality basic education, but also technical and vocational training aligned with 21st-century economies. It means leveraging technology to reach remote populations and creating pathways from education to employment.

Strong institutions, effective public service delivery, and accountable leadership create the enabling environment for inclusive growth. We have seen across our continent that where governance improves, development accelerates. Where transparency increases, public trust grows. Where accountability mechanisms function, resources reach intended beneficiaries.

Central to our discussions must be the voices of those often marginalized in development discourse. Women, who constitute over half our population and drive significant portions of our economies, must be at the center, not the periphery, of our development strategies. Youth representing our demographic dividend, require not just inclusion but leadership opportunities in shaping their futures. Vulnerable communities, including persons with disabilities, the elderly, and rural populations, must have their specific needs addressed in all our interventions.

As we engage in today’s discussions, allow me to propose four imperatives that should guide our collective action:

First, we must move from diagnosis to delivery. Let this not be another moment of description, but a moment of demonstration — showcasing what works, where, and why.

Second, we must ensure coherence and convergence. National development plans, the aspirations of Agenda 2063, and the Sustainable Development Goals must reinforce one another, not compete for attention or funding.

Third, we must redefine partnerships for a new era. True partnerships should not be transactional. They should be anchored in mutual respect, co-creation, and shared responsibility, where knowledge, not just capital, is equitably exchanged.

Fourth, we must demand commitments that count — clear, measurable, time-bound actions, with mechanisms for follow-up and course correction.

Excellencies,

As I conclude, let me share a simple truth: we may come from different regions, but we share one planet and one world. The Africa We Want, as articulated in Agenda 2063, and the World We Need, as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda, are inextricably linked.

Our challenges, left unaddressed, become global crises, just as our solutions, if nurtured and scaled, become global assets.

Let this meeting serve not only as a moment of reflection but as a decisive step toward convergence, cooperation, and delivery. Africa is not the last frontier of development. It is the proving ground of whether global commitments can truly be met in the most complex and promising environments.

Today, we renew a compact between Africa and the world, between present choices and future possibilities. The question isn't whether we can achieve these interlinked agendas.

The question is whether we have the collective will to make the choices that our future generations will thank us for.

In this spirit, I call upon all of us to move from rhetoric to results, and from planning to performance. If there is one consensus we must all carry forward, it is this: The time to act is a present imperative. Let us match our ambition with execution, and our conviction with delivery.

I THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION