Guinean President Mamadi Doumbouya received a high-level British delegation at the Mohammed V Palace in Conakry on the sidelines of the fifth UK–West and Central Africa Francophone Trade and Investment Forum (WCAF), held on October 20 and 21, 2026.
Led by Ben Coleman, trade adviser to the British Prime Minister, and introduced by Minister of Planning, International Cooperation and Development Ismaël Nabé, the meeting focused on expanding bilateral commercial ties, attracting foreign direct investment, and identifying strategic economic partnerships to support Guinea’s long-term national growth agenda.
The high-level diplomatic exchange forms part of Conakry’s effort to secure international capital for its Simandou 2040 strategic vision, a structural framework aimed at modernizing infrastructure and diversifying the national economy beyond raw material extraction. The British delegation featured prominent institutional figures, including UK Representative Alistair Long and Tim Reid, Chief Executive of UK Export Finance, signalizing the prospective role of British export credit mechanisms in underwriting future infrastructure and commercial developments in the country.
By hosting the fifth edition of the WCAF—a forum previously staged in London and Lomé—Guinea positioned itself as a competitive destination for Anglophone and European capital within francophone West and Central Africa. While no formal financial agreements or quantified credit commitments were finalized during the initial executive sessions, Guinean authorities reiterated their intention to leverage proactive economic diplomacy to convert preliminary trade talks into binding operational investments across key growth sectors.
TE/Sf/lb/abj/APA