Africa possesses some of the world's richest reserves of critical minerals, oil, gas and other natural resources. Yet many resource-rich countries continue to experience limited domestic value addition, volatile public revenues and persistent dependence on commodity exports.
As global demand for critical minerals accelerates alongside the green transition, African countries face a historic opportunity to reshape how natural resources contribute to development, ensuring that mineral wealth contributes to structural transformation, inclusive growth and long-term prosperity while avoiding patterns and missed opportunities of the past.
This session will explore how taxation and broader fiscal policy can support resource governance that promotes industrialisation, economic diversification and long-term prosperity. It will examine questions of fiscal regimes, contract negotiation, local value addition, regional value chains, critical minerals governance and the role of tax incentives inattracting investment while safeguarding public revenues. The discussion will consider how Africa can move beyond resource extraction towards resource-led structural transformation.