Sierra Leone is set to host the inaugural West Africa Integration and Investment Summit (WAIIS) from 17–18 November 2026, as the region seeks to accelerate economic integration by converting regional opportunities into concrete investments, trade deals and partnerships.
The summit, to be held at the Julius Maada Bio International Conference Centre (JMBICC) in Lungi, Port Loko District, will be convened by President Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone and immediate past Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
The summit follows an ECOWAS Authority mandate based on recommendations of the 96th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers and subsequently adopted by the Authority.
WAIIS is anchored on President Bio’s call for ECOWAS to return to its founding economic mission of promoting integrated markets, infrastructure development and investment.
Focus on investment and transactions
Unlike conventional political summits, WAIIS is designed as an investment-conversion platform bringing together Heads of State, investors, buyers, financial institutions and project sponsors.
The summit will focus on four major regional growth pillars:
- Energy Abundance and Green Industrialisation
- Strategic Minerals and Natural Resource Development
- Agribusiness and Food Systems Transformation
- Digital Transformation and Connectivity
Organisers say the summit’s objective is to move opportunities beyond declarations towards purchase orders, project-development mandates, financing pathways, joint ventures and investable partnerships.
Three mechanisms will drive the investment-conversion agenda: the Investor Deal Room, the Buyers’ Marketplace, and private-sector roundtables and signing windows.
The preliminary regional pipeline reportedly contains more than 170 investment opportunities, with an indicative value of approximately US$180 billion.
Rice facility launched
Momentum towards the summit has already begun, with WAIIS soft-launching the West Africa Rice Investment Facility at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali.
The facility is the first window of a proposed US$1 billion regional Agribusiness and Rice Sovereignty Facility. The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has announced proposed support of US$100 million towards the facility.
The digital transformation pillar is also developing a regional pipeline linked to the continental AI 10 Billion Initiative, with pathways covering AI infrastructure, entrepreneurship, skills development and responsible AI adoption.
A proposed Youth and Innovation Programme is expected to include a Youth Sprint, Innovation Challenge and hackathon, linking selected ventures with mentors, buyers and investors.
Private sector to shape summit
President Bio on 20 August 2026 convened the inaugural dialogue of the WAIIS Private Sector Advisory Board (PSAB), signalling a stronger role for the private sector in shaping the summit.
The advisory board is expected to review pipeline priorities, identify cross-border constraints, anchor investor roundtables and introduce transactions into the summit’s screening process.
President Bio said the success of WAIIS would be measured by the transactions advanced, commitments signed and partnerships taken through to implementation.
The summit’s investment-conversion agenda is being led by Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, President Bio’s Special Envoy for WAIIS and Chairman of the Presidential Initiative on Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Food Security (PI-CREF).
Dr Yumkella said WAIIS was intended to be more than another political gathering, stressing that ministers, financiers, companies and technical teams had been working to prepare concrete decisions for Freetown.
Year-round investment platform
WAIIS is also being positioned as a year-round execution platform through 2030, rather than a one-off summit.
Its Co-Executive Secretariat will maintain the regional investment pipeline, commitment register and investor-project matching system while tracking progress towards financing and implementation.
About 1,000 participants are expected, including Heads of State and Government, African and international CEOs, investors and development finance institutions.
Participation in the Deal Room will be by application and invitation, with interested institutions directed to www.waiis.org for registration.
The central message from Freetown is clear: West Africa wants to move from declarations about regional integration to transactions that create investment, trade, jobs and economic resilience.
