What the Africa Forward Nairobi Declaration Means for the G7 Minerals Plans

This week’s Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, jointly hosted by Kenya and France, placed mineral partnerships at the center of discussions on Africa’s economic future. With the gathering’s conclusions designed to feed directly into preparation for the G7 Summit in June, expectations were high that governments would move beyond rhetoric toward defining new models of mutually beneficial partnerships.

Kenyan President Ruto set an ambitious tone when he stated that, "We cannot accept a future in which Africa simply exports raw green minerals while industrial value addition, advancement of manufacturing and technology innovation take place elsewhere. That model belongs to the past.” 

The UN Secretary-General went further, invoking the United Nations Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals as the blueprint for what fair partnerships should look like. His message was unambiguous: "No more exploitation, no more plundering. The people of Africa must benefit first and most from the resources of Africa."

The stakes are high. IMF estimates that critical minerals could generate more than $1.5 trillion for sub-Saharan Africa over the next 25 years and if managed effectively, could lift regional GDP by more than 12 percent by 2050. How governments structure mineral partnerships and governance frameworks today will therefore shape broader development outcomes across the continent.

The Nairobi Declaration affirms several important principles toward that ambition. It commits to moving away "from extractive economic models toward value addition, manufacturing and sustainable production systems," and to promote local beneficiation and sustainable processing of Africa's critical minerals in support of industrialization and regional value chains. At a time when African governments are seeking to capture greater long-term value for their mineral resources, this matters.

The Declaration also makes an explicit call for African countries to be fully included in "global decision-making, governance, standard-setting and rule-making," at a moment when major countries and regions are designing rules that will have direct implications for low- and middle-income producing countries. Yet this is also where the Declaration’s limitations become clearer. While it recognizes the importance of African inclusion, it stops short of bringing such engagement to specific policy processes, starting with G7 plans to develop a minerals traceability mechanism and implement standards-based markets for minerals. 

Other important gaps remain. Africa’s Green Minerals Strategy is conspicuously absent from the declaration, a missed opportunity to secure support for its implementation. Similarly, signatories committed to "advance sustainable development financing" without specifying amounts or mechanisms by which the finance will be delivered.

Whether the Declaration will live up to its promises remains to be seen. But substance is not only about what governments commit to on paper. Who is around the table to shape those commitments matters too. In Nairobi, civil society advocated for a shift in how mining policies are assessed – beyond tonnage and investment figures, and toward their real impact on people’s lives. Yet in practice, civil society voices were left out of key negotiations. Next steps on the Nairobi Declaration – including by partners at the G7 Summit in June – must meaningfully involve civil society actors to build legitimacy.

As African and G7 leaders implement the Nairobi Declaration, they should affirm gains, address gaps and advance concrete goals by taking the following steps: 

1. Ground mineral partnerships in equity: G7 and African countries should draw on the principles and actionable recommendations of the UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals to support mineral partnerships that prioritize Africa’s development goals, uphold strong social and environmental safeguards, and protect and meaningfully engage communities and workers.
2. Make African countries co-architects of mineral trade arrangements, standards and traceability mechanisms: African countries must be full participants in shaping plurilateral trade agreements, traceability mechanisms and standards-based markets, whether as part of the G7, G20 or other emerging frameworks, rather than adapt to frameworks that overlook the contextual realities of the continent.
3. Do not use minerals as bargaining chips: Both producer and consumer countries should avoid using minerals as short-term transactional tools and instead prioritize long-term development goals. Consumer countries should not pressure producing countries to grant access to their minerals in exchange for health resources and security support. African producer countries should manage mineral resources through rules-based frameworks that prioritize long-term national development ambitions.
4. Back up value chain ambitions with clear strategy and financing support: Partnerships must deliver technical and financial support to enable the development of evidence-based, mineral-specific strategies, rigorous preparation of the most promising projects and lower costs of capital. In doing so, development finance for value chain projects could explicitly price in ‘social dividends’ as part of the primary return-on-investment calculation.
5. Invest in producer-country regulatory capacity: Parties should support the strengthening of producer-country regulatory and enforcement capacity. High standards set a level playing field only if all partner governments can shape and implement them effectively.
6. Support regional integration: Mineral partnerships and trade mechanisms should avoid forcing producer countries into fragmented deal-making, instead supporting African regional integration of mineral value chains.
7. Avoid pressuring countries to fast-track permitting: Efforts to speed up approvals should not come at the expense of participation, environmental assessment, labor rights, community consent where applicable, cumulative impact analysis or remedy. 
8. Publish mineral agreements and contracts: Government and companies should publish mineral agreements and contracts, including government-to-government agreements and private sector contracts, in line with international best practice. .  

As policymakers begin to transform the Nairobi Declaration into action, we urge them to keep these principles top of mind. The G7 Summit in Evian in June is the next test of whether the commitments made in Nairobi will be delivered in concrete mineral policies and partnerships.