By Ambassador Babacar Sané BA - Expert in economic diplomacy

The world order is wavering. Under our eyes, the international economic architecture inherited from the post-cold-war era is gradually being defeated. Yesterday's certainties are collapsing one after the other: fluidity of trade, abundance of capital, stability of supply chains, soothing economic multilateralism, relatively open access to international markets and financing.

The world is entering a new era: that of geo-economy

An era in which powers use trade, investment, technology, energy resources, currencies, financial sanctions and infrastructure as instruments of strategic influence. An era in which the economy becomes a permanent field of diplomatic confrontation. An era when nations are no longer measured solely by their military power, but also by their ability to control value chains, secure supplies, attract capital and impose their standards on the rest of the world.

In this great global shift, the countries of the South are at a decisive historic turning point.

As the great powers reorganize their economic alliances, relocate their strategic industries and secure their national interests, another reality emerges for African economies: easing of concessional financing, increasing debt, tightening of access to international markets, increased competition for foreign direct investment and gradual fragmentation of the global trading system.

The time of the assisted economy gradually reaches its limits.

Africa today discovers a brutal but salutary truth: in the new world order, nations that do not build their own economic power become the variables for adjusting the interests of others. This awareness explains why economic diplomacy is now one of the most strategic pillars of contemporary public policy.

For a long time, in many countries of the South, diplomacy was essentially political, protocol or security. The main mission of embassies was to manage traditional bilateral relations, represent the State or defend certain diplomatic positions in international fora.

This paradigm is now outdated.

In today's world, diplomacy can no longer be separated from economic issues. Successful States are those able to transform their diplomatic apparatus into a genuine lever for national development.

The diplomats of the twenty-first century thus became actors of economic conquest.

They must attract investors, promote domestic businesses, identify technological opportunities, facilitate industrial partnerships, negotiate strategic financing, open up business opportunities and defend their countries' economic interests in major international negotiations.

Economic diplomacy then becomes a diplomacy of power projection.

It allows states to no longer undergo global transformations, but to take a position with method, intelligence and ambition.

For Africa, this change is fundamental.

The continent has considerable advantages. A young and dynamic population. Strategic mineral resources essential for the global energy transition. A huge agricultural potential. Energy capacity still largely untapped. A growing digital revolution. Rapid urbanization that creates new markets. A strategic geographical position at the crossroads of major global trade routes.

And yet, despite these riches, Africa continues to occupy a marginal place in the world economy.

The continent still accounts for a small share of world trade. Exports remain dominated by raw materials. Its technological dependence remains high. Its economies remain vulnerable to external shocks, fluctuations in international prices and the decisions of the major financial powers.

This contradiction illustrates one of the great African paradoxes: a continent rich in potential but still insufficiently structured to transform its resources into sustainable power. It is precisely here that economic diplomacy takes on its full strategic dimension. It should enable African States to better value their interests, secure their resources, negotiate more balanced partnerships and build less dependent models of development. The central question is no longer just to attract financing.

The real question becomes: what funding, for what strategic objectives and under what conditions of sovereignty?

In an international context marked by geopolitical competition, international financing is never completely neutral. Behind loans, investments, infrastructure or technology partnerships are often issues of influence, strategic alignment and economic control.

African States must therefore learn to diversify their partnerships intelligently. Strategic diversification is now becoming an absolute necessity.

For decades, many African countries have maintained excessive economic dependence on some historical partners or international financial institutions. This concentration of dependencies reduces policy space and undermines national sovereignty.

However, the new global environment offers new opportunities.

The emergence of powers such as China, India, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil profoundly alters international balances. South-South partnerships are growing. Regional development banks are gaining in importance. SWFs are looking for new opportunities for growth. Innovative financing mechanisms are multiplying.

This economic multipolarity can become a historic opportunity for Africa. Provided, however, that African States have a clear vision of their strategic interests. For diversifying does not mean navigating without course between powers. Diversifying means building coherent partnerships for a national economic transformation strategy.

This requires States capable of planning, negotiating and anticipating. This also implies economic diplomacy based on strategic intelligence.

African countries must now identify sectors where they can build sustainable comparative advantages: agri-food processing, strategic minerals, energy, pharmaceutical, digital, logistics, green economy, cultural industries, financial services and the maritime economy.

The real issue is no longer just the export of resources, but the control of value.

The one who controls transformation controls wealth.

The master of technology controls competitiveness.

The one who imposes the standards controls the market.

However, no African economic power strategy can succeed in fragmentation.

Regional integration thus becomes the other major pillar of African economic sovereignty.

For too long, African economies were built according to an extraverted logic inherited from colonization: export outwards, import outwards and trade very little between African neighbours.

This architecture severely limits the continent's industrial development capabilities. No modern economy can build sustainable industrial power in narrow and fragmented national markets.

The African Continental Free Trade Area is therefore much more than just a trade agreement. It represents one of the largest economic transformation projects in contemporary African history. With a market of over 1.4 billion inhabitants, it offers the opportunity to create a genuine continental economic space capable of supporting industrialization, attracting investment, developing regional value chains and enhancing the competitiveness of African companies.

But the FTACAF will not only succeed in legal texts.

It will require modern regional infrastructure, efficient logistics corridors, interconnected financial systems, coordinated industrial policies and a genuine political will to overcome national protectionist reflexes.

Another major challenge facing Africa is the financing of its transformation. The scarcity of international resources required African States to rethink their models of financing for development.

The solutions do exist.

More effective mobilization of domestic resources. Development of regional financial markets. African sovereign funds. Diaspora obligations. Better structured public-private partnerships. African investment capital. Climate finance. Regional industrialization. Tax digitalisation. Development of strategic raw materials.

The continent must gradually shift from a logic of financial dependence to a logic of productive sovereignty. This ambition also requires credible governance.

Economic diplomacy cannot thrive in environments marked by chronic instability, legal insecurity, systemic corruption or regulatory unpredictability.

Investors are certainly looking for opportunities, but they are looking primarily for confidence. A country's economic attractiveness is not solely dependent on its natural resources; It also depends on the quality of its institutions, its stability and its ability to ensure legible and sustainable rules of the game.

Africa will therefore have to build strategic states.

States capable of thinking in the long term.

States capable of protecting their interests while remaining open to the world.

States capable of articulating economic patriotism, international openness and competitiveness.

The twenty-first century will be that of nations capable of transforming their political sovereignty into economic sovereignty. In this global battle of influences, markets and resources, the countries of the South can no longer be content with being areas of exploitation or consumption.

They must become decision-makers.

Economic diplomacy then appears to be one of the most powerful instruments of this strategic winback.

It transforms embassies into platforms for opportunities.

It connects domestic companies to international markets.

It attracts useful investments rather than unproductive dependencies.

It allows African nations to gradually regain control of their economic destiny.

In essence, the real challenge of the century is not simply growth.

The real challenge is the ability of peoples to control their future in a world that has become unstable, competitive and deeply geopolitical.

And in this new world, sovereignty is no longer only proclaimed in speeches.

It is built in ports, logistics corridors, value chains, digital infrastructure, industries, universities, research centres, regional markets and international economic negotiations.

The future of the countries of the South will therefore depend on their ability to transform their diplomacy into economic power, their integration into a lever of competitiveness and their diversity of partnerships into strategic autonomy.

Time is no longer dependent.

Time is now at the methodical construction of power.