President John Dramani Mahama has applauded the African Union (AU) Commission for its proactive role in providing capacity-building to Member States at the continental level.

He also lauded the Commission for advocating fair and equitable international tax rules at a global level.

President Mahama, who is the Champion on African Union (AU) Financial Institutions, gave the commendation in his keynote address at the Heads of State and Government breakfast dialogue held at the AU Commission headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The event on the theme “Africa at the forefront: Mobilizing African Investment and Financing for Implementing Agenda 2063”, was held on the sidelines of the AU Summit, under the auspices of the Alliance of African Multilateral Financing Institutions, also called the African Club.

President Mahama said the USAID withdrawal for example should be a wake-up call to all Africa that they should look more inward and raise domestic financing.

He said addressing the financing gap requires a multifaceted approach, and that domestic resource mobilization was crucial.

The President said by improving tax administration and combating illicit financial flows and encouraging a culture of tax compliance, African countries could significantly increase their revenues.

He said the ongoing work on the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation was a critical step towards eliminating base erosion and profit-shifting, thus protecting our national revenues.

“It is projected that African countries need to increase their median tax-to-GDP ratios by about 13.2 percentage points to 27.2 percent of GDP to be able to close the financing gap by 2030,” he said.

The President said there was the need for additional innovative financial resources and reform of the global financial architecture to ensure equitable and inclusive distribution of resources.

He said the role of African multilateral financial institutions in financing sustainable development could not be overemphasized.

He said the institutions were uniquely positioned to address trade, investment, and development gaps across the continent.

“It is our responsibility to strengthen them to effectively contribute to the continent’s transformation and the realization of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

He said the establishment of the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AMFI), also known as the Africa Club, exemplified their commitment to collaboration to achieve this objective.

President Mahama said the initiative strengthened the ability of the capable institutions to advance the interests of member states in global finance and to advocate homegrown solutions to the continent’s development challenges.

He said the support of AMFI should also be complemented by innovative initiatives aimed at fostering sustainable development.

President Mahama reiterated that innovation was key to the continent’s progress and the launch of the African Virtual Investment Programme (AVIP) by the African Union Commission was a testament to this.

He said by aggregating comprehensive data on investments and related policies, the platform would provide the evidence necessary for informed policy discussions and decision-making.

He said the platform was designed to attract investment and ensure that it was deployed in a way that promoted sustainable development and inclusive growth.

The President said accelerating the implementation of the African Union Financial Institutions, namely the African Central Bank, the African Investment Bank, the African Monetary Fund, and the Pan-African Stock Exchange was instrumental in fostering investments and financing to achieve their objectives.