The announcement, seen as a significant step towards continental integration, drew prolonged applause from thousands of delegates attending the meetings at the Kintele Conference Centre.
“As from the first of January 2027, nationals of all African countries will have visa-free access and will no longer need a visa to come to Congo,” Sassou-Nguesso said, urging African countries to move beyond “selfishness and nationalism” and accelerate regional integration through the effective implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The Africa Day commemoration brought together African heads of state and government, ministers, diplomats, investors, development partners, civil society representatives, youth leaders, and private sector stakeholders from around the continent to discuss its regional integration and transformation agenda.
Observed annually on 25 May, Africa Day marks the founding of the Organization of African Unity in Addis Ababa in 1963, which later evolved into the African Union. This year’s celebration aligns with the African Union’s 2026 theme, “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063.”
Sassou-Nguesso called for increased investment to promote sustainable development and accelerate efforts to improve access to water security and sanitation across Africa.
He stressed that no African country could independently finance the infrastructure required to transform the continent, highlighting the need for collective investment in roads, railways, airports, ports, and energy systems.
The Congolese president also renewed calls for global mobilization around ecosystem restoration and reforestation, describing Africa’s forests as “a second green lung of humanity” and underscoring the continent’s central role in combating climate change.
In his address, Sidi Ould Tah, president of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), stressed the importance of deeper continental integration, stronger African institutions, and renewed confidence in Africa’s ability to shape its own future amid mounting global uncertainty.
Describing Africa Day as “a dialogue of peace, solidarity and resilience,” Ould Tah said the continent’s future depended on transforming its abundant natural resources into drivers of dignity and prosperity.
“Too often Africa is described in terms of what it lacks,” he said. “But if we focus only on what Africa does not have, we fail to see what it already possesses.”
He added that Africa must strengthen its “collective agency” through deeper regional integration, stronger continental institutions, and a new African financing architecture capable of supporting long-term development ambitions.
“The generation of 1963 gave us political agency,” Ould Tah said. “Our responsibility now is to strengthen Africa’s collective agency through deeper integration, stronger institutions, and inward confidence in our ability to build our future together.”
In remarks delivered via video link, Évariste Ndayishimiye, president of Burundi and chairperson of the African Union, called for stronger African solidarity, accelerated continental integration, and reforms to global governance systems to better reflect Africa’s growing role in world affairs.
Representing the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Selma Malika Haddadi praised the African Development Bank Group for its role as the continent’s premier development financier.
“For decades, the African Development Bank has demonstrated that an Africa that invests in itself is an Africa that strengthens its economic sovereignty, its resilience, and its ability to take control of its own development,” she said.
The programme, moderated by veteran Cameroonian journalist Denise Epoté, also featured Congolese cultural performances and poetic recitations by Mariusca and Maître Muleck.
The 2026 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group are being held in Brazzaville under the theme “Mobilising Africa’s Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented World.”
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