Botswana’s Vice President and Finance Minister Ndaba Nkosinathi Gaolathe has urged African leaders to build an economically viable and resilient continent amid global funding challenges, geopolitical tensions, and increased tariff regimes.

Speaking at an event marking the African Development Bank Group’s 60 years of transformative impact across Africa and 53 years of its operations in Botswana,  Gaolathe envisioned a new Africa as a “value definer” rather than a “price taker” in finance, energy, minerals, and technology.

He highlighted the African Development Bank Group’s development impact, noting it has remained the continent’s partner of choice not merely as an institution but “a beacon of Africa's own dream."

“We have seen the Bank not only as a builder of roads and dams, but also as a partner in thinking, reforming, and reimagining. Whether through technical assistance in procurement reforms, lines of credit to our development institutions, or policy advisory during our most difficult transitions, the African Development Bank has walked quietly, consistently, and strategically with us,” Gaolathe stated.

“From the construction of the Lobatse-Kanye Road in the 1970s to the Nata-Maun Road, the Gaborone-Lobatse Water Supply, and the Morupule B Power Plant, this Bank's footprint is woven into the story of our progress,” he said. “As we celebrate these past six decades, I am especially inspired by the bold and courageous conversations that the African Development Bank is leading today, which challenge the world to rethink Africa, not as a continent of scarcity, but as the richest cradle of life on earth.”

Gaolathe expressed concern about the "systematic undervaluation of Africa's natural resources.” “When African carbon credits are traded for a fraction of their true value, that is not commerce; it is quiet violence," he stated, echoing African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina's call to stop "carbon grabs" across the continent.

Since 1972, the Bank Group has supported transformative projects in Botswana across multiple sectors, including agriculture, finance, power, transport, and industry, with investments exceeding $2.6 billion across 67 projects.

Gaolathe praised a proposal by the Bank for a Critical Minerals-Backed African Currency, and its push to include natural capital in national balance sheets as “unapologetically African, innovative, and sovereign” leadership. “Africa holds over 30% of the world’s critical minerals. From lithium to cobalt, we power the world's batteries, yet all too often, we are still exporting dust while importing debt. That must end,” he emphasized.

Leila Mokaddem, the Bank’s Director General for Southern Africa, highlighted the impact of the Bank’s work in Southern Africa, including the Kazungula Bridge connecting Botswana and Zambia, which she described as "a gateway of integration across SADC." She also cited the Pandamatenga Agriculture Infrastructure Project that transformed 40,000 hectares of farmland and increased cereal production by 46%.

"As we mark this Diamond Jubilee, we do so to honor the past and embrace the future. Let us build the next decade of partnership with purpose, optimism, and shared commitment," she said.

Angola's Ambassador to Botswana and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Beatriz Morais, took the audience on a memory lane to September 1964, when 25 countries converged in Khartoum with a singular vision—to create a financial institution by Africans for Africans. “Today, 61 years later, we take pride in what that vision has become.”

Mothobi Matila, a retiree who joined the Bank from Botswana's Ministry of Finance in 2005, delivered an emotional speech. He described the Bank as an "equal opportunity place" that became his employer and second home.

Moono Mupotola, the Bank’s Country Manager for Botswana and Deputy Director General for Southern Africa emphasized its five-decade partnership with Botswana, which began in 1972 with the first loan extended in November 1973 to support telecommunications infrastructure.

She outlined the Bank’s 2022-2026 strategy for Botswana, which focuses on building economic resilience through improved economic governance, private sector development, and infrastructure development to enhance competitiveness and productivity.