Prof. Abdelaziz Hilali, Vice-Chairman of the Board, and Mr Arthur N’guessan, Head of Stakeholder Development,
The Transform Africa Summit (TAS) 2025 in Conakry, Guinea from 12 to 14 November 2025 brought together leaders, regulators, global technology firms, and development partners at a decisive moment for Africa’s digital future. For AFRINIC, the Summit offered a timely platform to reaffirm its essential role in the continent’s Internet-governance landscape and to re-engage with institutions that rely on a strong and stable regional registry. Represented by Prof. Abdelaziz Hilali, Vice-Chairman of the Board, and Mr Arthur N’guessan, Head of Stakeholder Development, our participation helped strengthen the visibility and trust that AFRINIC continues to rebuild across Africa.
Throughout the Summit, a clear message resonated: Africa’s digital transformation cannot succeed without reliable governance frameworks and trusted technical institutions. This theme emerged strongly during the closed roundtable on collaboration between African regulators and global technology companies. The conversation centred on how to harmonise African data-governance frameworks with global platforms while ensuring that innovation is not hindered by regulatory fragmentation. Discussions emphasised the need for capacity building for regulators, responsible data stewardship, and better cooperation across sectors—ideas that align closely with AFRINIC’s mission. Much of this work depends on stable and secure Internet infrastructure, and AFRINIC’s contributions in IPv6 deployment, RPKI adoption, and routing security were consistently highlighted as foundational components of digital trust.
The Ministerial Roundtable on regional integration reinforced these points further. Ministers and development partners underscored that investments in fibre backbones, cross-border connectivity, and national infrastructures require equally strong governance and interconnection ecosystems to be effective. AFRINIC was referenced as a critical technical institution—one that must be stable, functional, and central to Africa’s digital integration. The recognition that resilient Internet governance is as important as physical infrastructure signals a renewed appreciation for AFRINIC’s role at policy and strategic levels.
Beyond the sessions, the Summit allowed for meaningful bilateral engagements. A key meeting between AFRINIC and Smart Africa’s Director General, Mr Lacina Koné, opened the door to deeper collaboration under clearer, more structured frameworks. Smart Africa has long been an ally of AFRINIC, and both sides reaffirmed the importance of coordinating technical programmes with continental flagship projects in connectivity, data governance, and peering. Strengthening this partnership offers enormous potential for AFRINIC to scale capacity-building activities and align more closely with Africa’s broader digital transformation priorities.
Another productive meeting was held with the Government of Guinea through its digital development agency, ANDE. Discussions with Director General Youssouf Mohamed Aribot focused on accelerating IPv4 and IPv6 deployment, improving routing practices among local operators, and supporting national regulators with technical training.
Across all engagements, it became clear that governments and regulators are eager for AFRINIC to resume a more active and structured presence after years of institutional turbulence. There is strong demand for support on IPv6 adoption, routing security, and technical capacity. Regional institutions continue to view AFRINIC as indispensable to Africa’s digital sovereignty. The Summit made evident that the continental community is ready to work closely with AFRINIC—and is expecting the organisation to reassert its role with confidence.
The Transform Africa Summit 2025 demonstrated that AFRINIC remains at the heart of Africa’s digital future. Our participation in Conakry reaffirmed the organisation’s relevance at a crucial time, and the connections strengthened there, particularly with Smart Africa and national authorities providing a strong foundation for deeper collaboration. As Africa accelerates its digital transformation, AFRINIC has also been contributing in shaping the resilient, secure, and interconnected Internet the continent needs.
