The world’s attention has increasingly focused on securing upstream supplies and establishing reliable processing facilities for critical minerals essential to high-tech, defense, and energy industries. Global demand for critical minerals is projected to increase fourfold by 2040, with lithium, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements leading growth. Africa holds approximately 30% of the world’s critical mineral reserves, including 70% of global cobalt and 40% of manganese, positioning the continent as an indispensable anchor for new global value chains. However, unlocking this potential requires more than just pit-to-port extraction; it demands bankable, cross-border strategic corridors, integrated rail, port, power, and digital infrastructure, that link mineral-rich inland regions directly to global processing hubs and export markets. 

Western economies, led by the United States, are actively working to build resilient supply chain alternatives and reduce systemic reliance on concentrated processing and transit routes. Finance mechanisms deployed by key U.S. government agencies, like the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), to name but a few, are pivotal in mobilizing blended finance and private capital for these capital-intensive, multi-country corridors. 

From flagship initiatives like the Lobito Corridor connecting the DRC and Zambia through Angola, to emerging trade and processing routes across East, West, and Southern Africa (including Madagascar, Tanzania, and Nigeria), strategic corridors represent the primary mechanism for scaling secure critical mineral supply chains while driving local value-addition and economic growth across African economies. 

On the margins of the 2026 United General Assembly, Corporate Council on Africa will convene a by-invitation-only roundtable with senior U.S. and African government officials, development finance institutions, corporates, institutional investors, commercial banks, export credit agencies, and project sponsors.  

The discussion will focus on identifying blended finance solutions that align sovereign priorities with commercial investment frameworks to finance strategic corridors, including agribusiness, energy, critical minerals and infrastructure projects.