By Lamin Momodou Manneh
Senior Special Adviser, Office of the Governor, Centra Bank of the Gambia
Introduction
The curtains were finally drawn on the 2026 edition of the African Caucus Meetings in the afternoon of July 08, 2026, at the Sir Dawda Kairaba International Conference Center. The buzz generated around the feverish preparations for the meeting, and during the meeting itself, has since died down. However, the ripple effects (mostly positive) of the meeting for the country will undoubtedly last for a long time. The meeting started in earnest on Monday July 06 and ended on Wednesday July 08. As usual, the Meeting brought together the African Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, who are usually the Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors.
The other important stakeholders for the African Caucus Meetings have come to include the African Union Commission, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank, other development partners, the private sector and the civil society. The Caucus Meetings are held annually to discuss Africa’s current and prospective economic development opportunities and challenges as well as collective strategies for realising the opportunities on one hand and addressing the challenges on the other.
For this year, in addition to the perennial development challenges confronting the continent’s policy makers, a notable preoccupation that the 2026 Banjul Meeting had to also address is the adverse effects of the on-going conflict in the Gulf region. As is well known, this has seriously disrupted the global supply chains for oil, gas, fertilizers and food as well as air travel, triggering inflationary pressures around the globe in the process, thereby threatening the gains that have been made over the past couple of years in the fight against inflation.
The Banjul 2026 African Caucus Meeting had unique features that distinguished it from most of the previous ones. It benefitted from the high patronage of His Excellency President Adama Barrow, who delivered a robust presidential keynote address. Another unforgettable feature of this year’s Caucus was the notable prominent role accorded to the private sector as underscored by the presence of Africa’s richest industrialist, Alhagie Aliko Dangote, and the powerful statement he delivered on the urgent need for more impactful industrialisation as well as the imperative for accelerating regional and continental integration in Africa. Importantly also, space was provided for local SMEs to showcase their products and demonstrate concretely their ambition to penetrate regional markets.
By all counts, the Banjul African Caucus Meeting was very well prepared and the deliberations highly fruitful with a robust outcome. All this is reflected in the very positive feedbacks provided by the delegates and the final outcome document produced at the end of the meeting, which was termed the “Banjul Declaration”. The meeting received commendable coverage from the national and international print and visual media. Thus, this article will not rehash those here, but will rather focus on the lessons that could be drawn from the preparations for, and organisation, of the meeting itself, that could be brought to bear on the realisation of the Gambia’s ambition to tap into the global higher income travel industry.
Before going into the details of that, I deem it useful to recall the origins, rationale and the usual expected outcomes of African Caucus Meetings. This is all the more important because during the run up to the Meeting, many members of the public posed critical questions about these aspects of the meeting. This is reflected in questions asked such as: “isn’t this another one of those international jamborees?”; “so what is the rationale and uniqueness of these Caucus Meetings?” ; “what are the expected outcomes and benefits, including for the Gambia?” etc.
The Origin and Rationale of African Caucus Meetings
Starting with the origin of the Caucus Meetings, they started in 1963 as the African Group, that brought together mainly the African Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors, who serve as the Governors of the Bretton Woods institutions. Like any institution or framework, the Caucus Meetings underwent important evolutionary changes over the years, notably the expansion of stakeholders and participants, which has rendered it more inclusive. Its rationale derived from the necessity to strengthen the voice and action of African countries in their interactions with the Bretton Woods Institutions and other development partners through their Governors of these institutions on development issues of special interest to the continent. Right from those initial stages, the African countries were clear about the critical importance of adopting more coordinated and joint approaches to presenting their development priorities and concerns to the heads of the Bretton Woods Institutions.
The core membership of the African Caucus is open to all the 54 countries of the continent that are members of the Bretton Woods Institutions. We have already noted the representation of countries by the Ministers of Finance and Economic Development/Planning as well as Central Bank Governors. The rationale for the participation of the other institutions mentioned above is to support the coordination processes and evolving of common positions by the African countries. Regarding the frequency of the meetings, they are held twice a year: once in the host country of the selected Chairperson, like the 2026 one in Banjul, and once at the venue of the IMF/WB Annual Meetings. The Chairmanship rotates annually among the member countries. The 2027 Caucus is expected to be held in the Republic of South Africa.
The main output of the Caucuses is a Memorandum document, derived from the Meeting’s joint Declaration, that captures the consensus on the key development challenges facing the African continent, the joint priority actions required for addressing them and the”asks” regarding support from the international community, notably the BWIs. The Memorandum is presented to the Heads of BWIs at their Annual Meetings. It is noteworthy that the first Memorandum was presented to BWIs on September 11, 1964. Thus, the Memorandum that has emerged from the Banjul 2026 African Caucus Meetings will be presented to the Heads of the IMF and World Bank at their Annual Meetings that are scheduled to be held in Bangkok, Thailand in September 2026.
Key Lessons That Could be Learned For the Gambia From the Preparations and Organisation of the 2026 Banjul African Caucus Meeting
The first key lesson is a full realisation from the outset that the organisation of a large gathering like the Caucus Meeting entails complex processes. When the preparatory activities started a few months ago for the Banjul African Caucus Meeting, some doubts were raised in many quarters about the ability of a small country like the Gambia to host it satisfactorily. But the Government of the Gambia and other stakeholders proceeded with the preparations with a high sense of purpose and effectiveness. A National Steering Committee was established which was co-chaired by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs and the Central Bank of the Gambia respectively. The goal it set for itself from the outset was the holding of a “flawless” Caucus Meeting.
The second key lesson is that successful organisation of large and complex international conferences require “a total Government” or “full national” approach, at the heart of which should be an effective coordination process. The National Steering Committee of the Caucus Meeting comprised of the entire Government machinery, with particular emphasis on all the Ministries and agencies that could potentially have a key role in ensuring the success of the Meeting: from the central Government Ministries to the Central Bank of the Gambia and specialised agencies like GRA, GIEPA, Police, Protocol, Security, Immigration, NCAC etc. The role of each institution and agency was clearly defined but the spirit of strong teamwork was fostered among the Committee Members. The National Steering Committee also received useful backstopping from staff drawn from the Executive Directors Office in Washington DC. The very positive outcome of all this is a highly successful Caucus Meeting.
In terms of the organisation and deliberations of the Caucus Meeting itself, a key lesson that could be drawn is that according such a meeting with the highest possible profile could help in ensuring greater attention and focus on its underlying objectives as well as facilitate beneficial deal making for the country. For the Caucus Meeting, the high patronage it received from His Excellency President Adama Barrow and the keynote addresses made by Alhagie Aliko Dangote, the Deputy African Union Commission Chairperson and the newly installed African Development Bank President as well as senior officials of the IMF and World Bank raised the profile of the Meeting to a very high level. The direct and active participation of President Adama Barrow in negotiations with Alhagie Dangote, the President of the African Development Bank and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank on the sidelines of the Meeting resulted in pledges of significant resources for the country’s energy and petroleum sectors.
The well-organised presentations and panel sessions, with the ultimate objective of facilitating common approaches to the continent’s development challenges and opportunities, rendered the deliberations highly productive. All this favorably cemented the position of the Gambia as a key venue for high profile meetings such as the Caucus Meetings. They also signal the readiness of the country to step up efforts to tap meaningfully into the global MICE industry.
MICE means “Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions” tourism. “It is a segment of business travel where groups are organised for professional, commercial, or networking purposes. That includes conferences, trade shows, corporate retreats, product launches, board meetings and incentive trips.” The estimated value of the global MICE market was US$1.22 trillion in 2025, which is expected to grow to US$3.06 trillion by 2024. Thus, the potentials of MICE are huge as the MICE travelers tend to spend much more per person than ordinary tourists, book larger group blocks, and use high value services like hotels, conference facilities like SDKICC, transport and catering, all with significant multiplier effects on the local economy. MICE also facilitates year-round hotel occupancy and high level of utilisation of restaurant services.
However, the holding of the 2026 African Caucus Meetings in Banjul, also clearly showed that for the Gambia to make the desired inroads into the Global MICE market, much more work needs to be done in the upgrading of current hotels and/or construction of additional 5-Star hotels, strengthening of the internet and telecommunications services, catering and transportation hiring facilities boosted as well as air travel connections and airport structures..
Conclusion
In conclusion, the 2026 African Caucus Meeting was successfully held in Banjul between July 06 to 08, 2026. It was very well organised, and its deliberations have been quite fruitful. It was accorded highest profile by the Gambian authorities through the patronage of the President of the country and other prominent high-level personalities, notably Alhagie Dangote and Heads of AfDB, Bretton Woods Institutions and AU.
The irrefutable success of the meeting signals the readiness of the country to host very high-level meetings and start tapping more meaningfully into the huge benefits offered by the global MICE industry. The valuable lessons learnt from the preparatory process and organisation of the meeting should, however, be brought to bear on future similar meetings.
The author of this article works as Senior Special Adviser in the Office of the Governor of the Central Bank of the Gambia.
The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the Central Bank of the Gambia.