The African Ministerial Conference on Local Production of Medicines and Health Technologies

The African Ministerial Conference on Local Production of Medicines and Health Technologies was crowned on 28 November 2025, with the adoption of the Algiers Declaration

This took place during an event organized under the high patronage of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

The participants in the African ministerial conference adopted the “Algiers Declaration,” which constitutes a common platform for strengthening the continent’s health sovereignty.

This is achieved by unifying efforts aimed at developing the African pharmaceutical industry and reducing dependence on imports.

The Algiers Declaration extends to accelerating the development of active pharmaceutical ingredients at the continental level, improving responses to pandemics, and enhancing demand forecasting capacities. Several working sessions were held on Friday, led by experts and stakeholders at the "Abdelatif Rahal" International Conference Center in the west of the capital.

The “Algiers Declaration” came as the culmination of two days of discussions among ministers of health and pharmaceutical industry, as well as representatives of African and international bodies.

13 Collective Commitments

The Minister of Pharmaceutical Industry, Wassim Quidri, read out the text of the Algiers Declaration, which was adopted by 29 countries participating in the conference.

These countries are: Algeria, South Africa, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Chad, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The “Algiers Declaration” contains 13 collective commitments by the participating African countries, embodying a unified vision to achieve the continent’s health security. These commitments include the following:

-Strengthening local and regional hubs for manufacturing pharmaceutical products and vaccines across Africa, by taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

-Encouraging sustainable public–private partnerships aimed at increasing industrial capacity and stimulating long-term investments.

-Strengthening national regulatory agencies and accelerating the process of regulatory harmonization through the African Medicines Agency and the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Program.

-Ensuring the quality, safety, and efficacy of health products, as institutional development plans will contribute to achieving at least Level 3 of regulatory maturity.

-Supporting mutual recognition of regulatory decisions within regional groups to facilitate faster access to quality medicines, vaccines, and medical devices.

-Supporting the role of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation and other mechanisms.

This measure aims to facilitate technology transfer, access to intellectual property, and the enhancement of local innovation.

-Committing to strengthen cooperation between universities, research institutes, and industry to develop human capital and build innovation ecosystems.

-Calling on continental and international financial institutions — especially the African Development Bank, the African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank), and the Islamic Development Bank —to provide innovative financing mechanisms for manufacturers and procurement agencies, and to facilitate concessional loans for African buyers,in order to ensure stable demand and encourage local production.

-Strengthening unified procurement mechanisms at the regional and continental levels to ensure market access for locally produced medicines, scale.

-Emphasizing the reduction of demand fragmentation, and strengthening equitable access to medicines, vaccines, and medical devices for all African populations.

-Integrating local manufacturing into primary healthcare policies to ensure fair access aligned with the objectives of universal health coverage.

-Committing to maintaining regular exchanges between African countries, regulatory authorities, industry representatives, and partners,with the aim of assessing progress achieved and identifying challenges to strengthening Africa’s pharmaceutical sovereignty.

-Encouraging African member states to integrate these commitments into their national policies and strategies.

-Realizing the Aspirations of the African Union’s Agenda 2063:The “Algiers Declaration” comes within the framework of realizing the aspirations of the African Union’s Agenda 2063, including its goals aimed at strengthening health systems. African Appreciation of Algeria’s Progress

The African countries participating in the conference highlighted their appreciation for “Algeria's role as host country.” They praised the progress achieved by Algeria, which covers more than 82% of its national pharmaceutical needs through local production.

The “Algiers Declaration” represents an important turning point for advancing Africa’s pharmaceutical industry amid the rapid transformations taking place across the continent.It is worth noting that the conference, which opened on Thursday, witnessed President Tebboune emphasizing the importance of supporting Africa’s capacities in the pharmaceutical industry.