Geopolitical tensions and shifting global priorities have weakened the multilateral system and widened the divide between the Global North and South. In this evolving landscape, Africa-Europe cooperation on sustainable development demands a strategic reset that serves the long-term interests of both continents. Traditional financing tools like Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance (ODA) alone are no longer sufficient to meet Africa’s ambitious development goals. The continent needs to mobilise an estimated $1.3 trillion annually to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, as outlined in the UN Agenda 2030 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. At the same time, European partners face mounting fiscal pressures from inflation, climate change, the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts, humanitarian crises, and competing social priorities.
These shared challenges call for renewed political will and joint action to expand sustainable finance. The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development and South Africa’s G20 presidency offer a unique opportunity to reset Africa-Europe financial cooperation on a more strategic and impactful path. Expanding fiscal space is central to this agenda. African countries must generate the resources needed to finance sustainable development, deliver essential services, and respond to mounting debt, health and climate financing burdens. Yet this effort is consistently undermined by Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) which drain a significant amount from the continent each year as well as by outdated global tax rules and fragmented financial data systems that limit effective policy action.
As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the Mbeki Report on IFFs, a renewed global push is needed to strengthen measurement systems, improve cross-border data coordination, and tackle the systemic enablers of tax abuse and capital flight. These reforms must be shaped by African priorities, backed by aligned partnerships, and rooted in transparency and equity.
Amidst evolving global tax governance debates, this is a pivotal moment to advance an Africa-driven agenda on fiscal transparency, domestic resource mobilisation, and debt sustainability. It also creates space to forge stronger Africa-Europe partnerships aimed at closing financial data gaps, harmonising monitoring frameworks, and aligning fiscal policies with sustainable development goals.
To seize this moment, the Africa-Europe Foundation proposes to host a high-level dialogue among African and European critical stakeholders, offering a discreet and candid platform for experience sharing and trust-building. This gathering will explore the most effective strategies for expanding Africa’s fiscal space and deepening sustainable cross-continental financial cooperation, setting the stage for concrete progress during the FfD4 and beyond.
The session also provides a timely platform to share tailored African solutions to combat IFFs and Europe’s ongoing contributions including through the Team Europe Initiative on Combatting Illicit Financial Flows and Transnational Organized Crime (TEI IFF/TOC), and the potential to scale these efforts through strengthened partnerships and cooperation frameworks.
Crucially, this moment also presents a unique opportunity for joint action between European and African member states to drive momentum toward an ambitious and inclusive UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.
Objective
This roundtable will:
- Examine the current landscape of IFFs, debt pressures, and domestic resource mobilisation in African countries.
- Showcase African and European approaches to combatting, measuring IFFs and improving data for decision-making.
- Share tangible ways on how national deposit development banks and climate financing initiatives can and have addressed development financing needs.
- Define joint policy priorities to combat IFFs, reform global tax rules, improve debt sustainability, and close investment efficiency and sustainability gaps.
- Leverage the G20, FfD4, and AU-EU platforms to strengthen cooperation and tangibly accelerate Africa’s fiscal agenda globally.
Discussion Themes
- Data Challenges in Measuring IFFs: What are the limitations, gaps, and emerging solutions? How can African and European actors harmonise their approaches to tracking capital leakages?
- What specific policy reforms and data investments are needed to improve IFF measurement and enforcement globally and regionally?
- Global Tax Governance: How can tax policy reform better serve African sustainable development goals? What changes are needed in global rules to stop base erosion, ensure fair taxation of multinationals and end harmful tax incentives?
- Debt and Fiscal Space: How can debt restructuring, concessional finance, and transparency mechanisms improve fiscal sustainability? What role can national deposit and development banks play in mobilising private domestic financial resources and strengthening sovereign financial systems to directly support the financing of sustainable development in their respective countries?
- How can Europe formulate a more visible agenda on IFF and fair global taxation and what role should Europe play in supporting African leadership on IFFs and DRM financially, technically, and politically?
- Strategic Partnerships: What role can joint Africa-Europe platforms like the Team Europe Initiative play in scaling solutions for IFFs, DRM, and debt? How can bilateral and multilateral actors better align with national priorities? How can cross-regional cooperation improve debt transparency, policy alignment, and public accountability?
- Climate Financing – What role can climate finance mechanisms and global solidarity levies play in closing development financing gaps and advancing resilient, inclusive growth?
Expected Outcomes
- A joint policy brief or communiqué capturing shared priorities for tax reform, IFF measurement, and investment efficiency and sustainability.
- Build Coalitions of the Willing by uniting leaders on issues like international tax, debt, trade, combatting IFFs to better achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including paradigm shifts in collaboration and partnerships, and build opportunities for concessions and support in ongoing global dialogue.
- Showcase and discuss the UNCTAD-UNODC Conceptual Framework for the statistical measurement of IFFs and its definition to improve data for policy decision-making.
- Strategic commitments toward a common IFF measurement framework aligned with SDG targets and policy reforms.
- Highlight progress arising from the Team Europe Initiative on Combatting Illicit Financial Flows and Transnational Organized Crime (TEI IFF/TOC)
- Political messaging to feed into future FFD conferences, the AU-EU Summit, and the G20 Leaders’ Communiqué.
- A roadmap for scaling joint Africa-Europe IFF data pilots and country engagement in 2025–26.
Participants
- African and European ministries of finance, tax authorities, and central banks
- European and African statistical and policy institutions
- UN system actors, civil society, think tanks, and international organizations
- Philanthropies, development and public finance institutions, and foundations
