08 October 2025 | 09:00 am-10:00 am | Session 1: Ten Years Later – Reflections on the High-Level Panel Report

This opening session will set the tone for the conference by revisiting the landmark High-Level Panel (HLP) Report on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, a decade after its release. The report, chaired by H.E. President Thabo Mbeki, marked a turning point in Africa’s understanding and framing of illicit financial flows—not merely as a technical issue, but as a political, developmental, and justice imperative. This session will offer a retrospective lens to reflect on the report’s legacy: what progress has been made over the past ten years, what structural and political obstacles remain, and how the HLP’s findings reshaped African and global discourse on tax justice, transparency, and financial accountability.