IDDA3 - Events

Upcoming Events

Au Extraordinary Summit: : 20 -25 November 2022, Niamey, Niger

Preparations are ongoing for the forthcoming “17th Extraordinary Assembly of the African Union Heads of State and Government on Industrialization, Economic Diversification and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),” The high-level event to be held between 20-25 in November in Niamey, Niger is co-organized by the African Union Commission (AUC), UNIDO, UNECA, AUDA NEPAD, AfroChampions and other partners.

Prior to this, a number of statutory meetings related to the AU Assembly will take place in early November including meetings of senior officials (3-4 November) and Ministers (7 November) in charge of industrialization, Economic Diversification and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

A decision or endorsement on the need for a renewed continental industrialization Framework, considering new developments on the continent as well as the global developments and challenges (COVID 19, 4IR etc.) is likely to emerge from the deliberations.

UNIDO is organizing side events during the event on various themes including: Common African AgroParks; Evidence based Industrial Policy; Pharmaceuticals; Digitization and Artificial Intelligence; Small and Medium-scale Enterprises--Competitiveness and market access; Special Economic Zones; Green Hydrogen Value chains; South-South Cooperation; Bamboo value chains; Agro Industrial clusters, among others.

Recognizing the crucial importance of Africa’s industrial development, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution A/RES/70/293 in 2016 declaring the period 2016-2025 as the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III), and tasked UNIDO with leading the initiative with a range of partners.

The full programme of the event as well as the links to partake in the events will be updated at UNIDO’s dedicated event page.

Niger Signs host Agreement for the Summit: News Report

African Union’s event website

Past Events

High-Level IDDA III events
Africa Industrialization Week/ Africa Industrialization Day
Other High-Level events

2022: Fifth High-Level event on “Accelerating energy access and green transition for Africa’s inclusive and sustainable industrialization” was held on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York on 23 September 2022. News Article on the event here.

Event Page with concept note and other details: https://www.unido.org/IDDA3-UNGA2022

Announcements on UNIDO Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

2021: Fourth High-level event “Strengthening Africa's Pharmaceutical Industry: Learning the Lessons from Covid-19.” on the margins of the 75th UN General Assembly, 25 September.

Report in English and Chinese, video and the text of UN Deputy SG’s speech related to the event

2019: Third High-level event “Promoting innovation and infrastructure development: A pathway for boosting manufacturing in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” on the margins of the 74th UN General Assembly, 25 September.

Report in EN and FR here and UN Secretary General’s message here

2018: Second High-level event “Enhancing global partnerships for IDDA III – Key for successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).” on the margins of the 73rd UN General Assembly, 26 September.

Read the report here.

2017: First High-level event: “From political commitments to actions on the ground” on the margins of the 72nd UN General Assembly, 21 September.

Read the report here

2017: Vienna High-level event: “Helping Africa leapfrog its industrial development” on the margins of the UNIDO General Conference, 30 November.

Details and related documents here and event video here
2021: Africa Industrialization Week 20-24 November (virtual event) with AUC, UNECA and AUDA-NEPAD. “Industrializing Africa: Renewed commitment towards an Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization and Economic Diversification.” UNIDO led some sessions on various themes. Read News Report , the text and video of UNIDO DG’s message.

2020: Africa Industrialization Week 16-20 November (virtual event) with AUC, UNECA and AUDA-NEPAD. “Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization in the AfCFTA Era.” UNIDO led some sessions on various themes. UNIDO’s African Industrial Competitiveness Report: An Overview of the Manufacturing Industry in the Region was released.

2019: Africa Industrialization Day 20 November on the theme “Positioning African Industry to Supply the AfCFTA Market.” Report of the event here, related documents in English and French here and video.

2018: Africa Industrialization Day 20 November on the theme “Promoting Regional Value Chains in Africa: A pathway for accelerating Africa’s structural transformation, industrialization and pharmaceutical production.”

A Joint statement issued by UNIDO, AUC and UNECA, and other related documents in various languages here, view photos and the video.

2017: Africa Industrialization Day 20 November on the theme “Africa Industrial Development - Precondition for an Effective and Sustainable Continental Free Trade Area.”

A Joint Statement issued by UNIDO, AUC and UNECA and related documents in various languages here

2016: Africa Industrialization Day 21 November on the theme “Financing Industrialization in Africa: Challenges and winning strategies”. The focus on mobilizing financing for industrialization was particularly crucial considering that the year 2016 marks the beginning of the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa. Read the report on the event and the related symposia held in Vienna, New York, Addis Ababa, Brussels and Maputo here.

Read Secretary-General's message in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian. Read UNIDO’s Africa Industrialization Day 2016 report here.
2022: UNIDO DG delivered speech at the Special High-Level Dialogue of the Presidents of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council on the theme “The Africa We Want: Reconfirming the Development of Africa as a Priority of the United Nations System” on 20 July. Read the report, the concept note and watch UN web TV video of the event

2021: UNIDO DG delivered the key speech at the Ministerial Session of the African Union Commission’s Specialized Technical Committee for Trade, Industry and Minerals, 3 September

Other Events

2022: The Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8), Tunisia 27-28 August 2022.
2021: Ministerial session of the African Union’s Commission’s specialized Technical Committee for Trade, Industry and Minerals, 3 September.
2019: Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) event in Yokohama, Japan

The Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8) led by the Government of Japan, was held at Tunisia from 27 and 28 August 2022.

To coincide with the event, UNIDO conducted five side events. Overall report here
- 23 August: Launch of the Industrial Development Report 2022 in Africa: Read the report here.
- 24 August: Webinar on How to Succeed in Attracting Investment and Technology from Japan – Best Practices from the UNIDO Advisor and Delegate programmes in Africa
- 25 August: Webinar on Partnering for Africa’s Green Industrial Development
- Partnering for Africa’s Challenge on plastic solution
- Promoting climate innovation and partnership for transition toward a deep decarbonization of society
- 26 August: Webinar on Building Resilient and Sustainable Agro-industries: Enhancing Africa’s Agricultural Potential. Read the report here.
UNIDO joined JETRO, JICA and UNDP to boost innovation and investment in Africa. Read here.
UNIDO Director General LI Yong delivered a speech at the Ministerial Session of the Third Ordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee of Trade, Industry and Minerals, which was organized virtually by the African Union Commission’s Department of Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining.

“UNIDO is a key partner in the preparation of the many strategic documents that will be considered by the Committee before their submissions to the Heads of State and Government during the African Union (AU) Summit on Industrialization and Economic Diversification, which will take place in November 2021”, said Li. “UNIDO is proud to co-organize the Summit, and to foster inclusive and sustainable industrial development in Africa”.

Read more here.
The United Nations Development Industrial Organization (UNIDO), the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) actively pursued the intrinsic connection between the seventh Tokyo International Conference for Africa Development (TICAD7), the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which are all essential to achieve Africa’s inclusive and sustainable development.

During its official event, ‘Promoting Africa’s structural transformation and economic diversification in the context of AfCFTA/IDDAIII/TICAD7: Partnering for Africa’s future’, UNIDO and its partners focused on tackling the essential aspects related to inclusive and sustainable industrial development based on the principle of African ownership and partnership, which is one of TICAD’s cardinal principals and a stalwart for the United Nations General Assembly’s mandated IDDA III, for which UNIDO assumes the role of lead implementer for this complementary initiative to the TICAD process.

Read more here.