Author: Sylvain Mulongo

Ceremonial Change of Guard in Riyadh Echoes a Wider Geoeconomic Rebalancing The marble-lined hall of the Saudi Ministry of Finance offered a telling backdrop on 1 July 2025 as regional ministers and African envoys convened to ratify the succession at the helm of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa. The setting was neither Khartoum, where BADEA was born in 1974, nor Nouakchott, the home capital of the outgoing director general, but Riyadh – a deliberate nod to the Kingdom’s growing convening power within the Gulf Cooperation Council and its heightened appetite for African opportunities (Saudi Vision 2030 Progress…