When African energy ministers, sovereign wealth fund managers, mining executives and project financiers converge in Dubai this June, the conversation will be markedly different from those of previous years.
There will be no talk of simply lighting up homes or connecting villages to the grid. The agenda has moved on — and so has Africa.
|
|
The 28th edition of the Africa Energy Forum (AEF) is scheduled to be held in Dubai in June 2026.
Under the theme Building Africa’s Industrialised Future, the forum signals a decisive break from the development-speak that has long defined how the world talks about African energy.
|
|
|---|
The continent, its leaders argue, now needs power on an industrial scale, the kind that runs smelters, data centres, rail corridors, desalination plants and fast-growing megacities around the clock.
For decades, progress in African energy was measured in connections — how many households gained access to electricity, how many villages got their first light bulb. It was an important metric, but an increasingly insufficient one.
Today, as global demand for critical minerals surges and artificial intelligence reshapes supply chains worldwide, the question is no longer whether Africa can power homes, but whether it can power industries.
AEF 2026 is built around that question. The forum’s agenda integrates closed-door leadership dialogue, expanded focus on transmission and baseload, critical minerals and pit-to-port corridors, regional fireside conversations, and a dedicated Africa–Middle East stream.
The Just Energy Transition sits at the centre of these discussions, but organisers are careful to define it on African terms. Decarbonisation, they insist, is essential, but it must also be pragmatic.
For Africa, a “just” transition must protect jobs, preserve water and food security, and allow countries to pursue diversified energy mixes — gas, renewables, and storage — that reflect their national industrial ambitions rather than external prescriptions.
Why Dubai?
Organisers said Dubai’s transformation offers a compelling parallel.
“Strategic investment, infrastructure-led growth, and global connectivity have positioned the city as one of the world’s leading hubs for project finance and logistics,” said Simon Gosling, managing director of EnergyNet.
Emphasising the choice of Dubai, organisers said the UAE’s transformation from a resource exporter to a diversified industrial powerhouse demonstrates what long-term vision, infrastructure investment, and sovereign capital can deliver.
“With Middle Eastern investors now among the largest financiers of African energy and infrastructure, the Africa–Middle East axis is central to this next chapter.”
AEF 2026 is co-anchored by Forum Sponsor Sun Africa, Country Host Petrodex, and City Sponsor ACWA Power.
READ ALSO: Fate of Democracy in West Africa: The Question of Political Legitimacy
Ministers, Minerals and Money
Four ministers are confirmed to speak at a high-level ministerial town hall, including Laye Sekou Camara of Guinea, Philippe Tonangoye of Gabon, Cyril Grant of Sierra Leone, and Nani Juwara of The Gambia.
The Chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone in Egypt, Waleid El Dien, is also on the programme — a signal of the forum’s growing focus on trade corridors and pit-to-port infrastructure.
New features this year include closed-door leadership dialogues, an expanded focus on baseload power and transmission, regional fireside conversations, and a dedicated Africa-Middle East stream designed to accelerate deal-making between the two regions.
The forum also revives its youth engagement programme. Last year’s YES! initiative, held alongside AEF, drew over 6,000 registered participants, with 3,200 attending in person across 80 sessions featuring more than 230 expert speakers.
This year, the youth programme will be more directly integrated with AEF’s senior public and private sector attendance, creating cross-generational dialogue around the industrialisation theme.
The Africa Energy Forum 2026 will be held in Dubai in June.
