As preparations intensify for the 9th Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFiC 2025) scheduled for October 29 to November 2 in Accra, conversations around Africa’s debt reform, trade integration, and youth empowerment are taking centre stage. This year’s conference will spotlight the Global Debt Initiative—a pioneering effort to design a sustainable, indigenous financial architecture tailored to the continent’s unique challenges.
In an interview with BusinessDay, Selasi Kofi Ackom, Chief Executive Officer of GITFiC, revealed that the Global Debt Initiative was conceived to replace externally designed financial frameworks that have long failed to serve Africa’s development needs. “We needed an integrated, indigenous African financial architecture—cooked by Africans, made for Africans, and implemented by Africans,” he said. The initiative, launched last year, brought together key continental and international stakeholders, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, and representatives from the United Nations.
Ackom noted that the African Union (AU) is also advancing discussions to establish an African Credit Rating Agency, linked with the African Central Bank and African Stock Exchange. However, he acknowledged resistance from global credit rating agencies such as Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P, who “made it clear that even the African Union cannot compel their participation.” Despite this, GITFiC continues to publish monthly debt situation reports for all 54 African states to counter what it calls “imbalanced global narratives” about Africa’s financial health.
Alongside debt reform, GITFiC 2025 will also introduce the inaugural AfCFTA Tertiary Students’ Congress, aimed at deepening youth engagement in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The Congress will bring together student representatives from universities across Africa and the diaspora to discuss policy, entrepreneurship, and industrialization in the context of the AfCFTA’s goals. “If you don’t immerse students in the AfCFTA process now, you risk losing out on sustainability,” Ackom warned.
GITFiC’s commitment to youth empowerment dates back to its involvement in AfCFTA discussions since 2018. The organization has since launched AfCFTA student clubs in universities across Ghana and Togo and introduced an AfCFTA curriculum, already adopted by several African universities. The annual Congress will now serve as a hub for electing student leaders and reviewing continental trade education.
Ackom emphasized that follow-ups after the conference are rigorously handled through a peer review mechanism under the GITFiC Agenda 2031, which aligns with Ghana’s national development plan. “Our resolutions don’t just end up on shelves,” he said. “They are tracked, reviewed, and implemented.”
Looking ahead, GITFiC aims to help African nations reduce debt levels, promote fiscal sustainability, and engage both creditors and debtor nations—including members of the Paris Club and multilateral lenders. With support from the United Nations, Ackom believes the conference could even spark discussions on a new round of global debt cancellation.
“GITFiC 2025 is about more than talk,” he concluded. “It’s about creating African solutions to African problems—and ensuring the next generation is part of the solution.”