Timbuktu Institute October 2026 - Week 1

For several months now, N’Djamena has set a clear course: giving the economy a greater role in its external relations as well as in its domestic agenda. The ambition set out in the national development plan “Chad Connection 2030” is considerable. It aims to attract up to 26 billion euros of investment by 2030 and to diversify an economy still largely dependent on sectors that create few jobs. To achieve this, the government is counting on improving the business climate, modernising infrastructure and better matching available skills with labour market needs. It is also with this in mind that Chad is betting – albeit rather soberly – on its renewed economic partnership with France, after a long cold spell. The Chadian government is highlighting several reforms intended to make business easier: a new Labour Code, tax exemptions, digitalisation of procedures and the creation of a one-stop shop through the National Agency for Investment and Exports (ANIE), among others. For the interim administrator of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abderrahmane Gademi, these measures should support “Chad’s economic development, economic diversification” and the transformation of the industrial base.

However, the drive to bring investors back is running up against an obstacle that goes beyond regulatory measures. Access to electricity remains one of the country’s main handicaps; Chad ranks 49th out of 54 in the Amadeus Institute’s 2024 attractiveness index. Economist Djimadoum Mandekor thus points to “a gap between commitments and (...) practical implementation”. A few projects nevertheless point to the beginnings of a recovery. The French company Qair has notably signed an agreement to build two 30 MW solar power plants on the outskirts of N’Djamena. Medef International also sees opportunities in infrastructure, energy and health, as well as in a possible resumption of security cooperation.

In search of economic relays

Across the African continent, the trend is towards diversifying partners, and N’Djamena is no exception. The new Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Kogri, received on 28 September Morocco’s ambassador to N’Djamena, Abdellatif Erroja. Beyond congratulating the new minister, the two officials discussed deepening a cooperation that already extends to agriculture, energy, transport, logistics and education. Morocco already has a well-structured relationship with Chad. Six agreements were signed in 2020, and those concluded in December 2021 raised to 150 per year the number of Moroccan scholarships awarded to Chadian students. The Casablanca-N’Djamena air link and infrastructure projects complete this cooperation network. On Throne Day, 30 July, the Moroccan ambassador had described the relationship as a model of “South-South partnership”. This diversification of partnerships is all the more significant as N’Djamena is at the same time seeking to reorganise its own economic tools. Chad wants not only to convince foreign partners, but also to create the conditions for their investments to find a more favourable environment. Hence the particular importance given to modernising infrastructure.

Building the conditions for attractiveness

In this drive, Hassan Djamous International Airport is an equally important project. On 30 September, the Chadian authorities began validating its Emergency Plan with ASECNA, bringing together airport services, security forces, emergency services, health facilities and administrative authorities. The aim is to clarify responsibilities and chains of command so as to be able to respond rapidly to an incident. The system accompanies the airport’s modernisation works, launched in January 2025 with 32.5 million euros of funding from the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Chadian State. Renovation and extension of the main runway, upgrading of infrastructure in line with ICAO recommendations, renovation of the terminal and extension of the aircraft parking area should enable the country’s main air gateway to take a new step towards international certification.

However, physical modernisation alone will not be enough. The revision of the National Employment and Vocational Training Policy, launched on 2 October, shows that the government is also seeking to act on the other side of attractiveness, namely the availability of a workforce capable of supporting economic transformation. In a country of around 21.5 million inhabitants where more than half the population is under 20, tens of thousands of young people enter the labour market every year. To this end, the Interministerial Technical Committee set up on this occasion has six months to carry out a diagnosis and propose a new policy built around apprenticeship, matching training with jobs, entrepreneurship, youth and women’s employment, the informal economy, digital technology and artificial intelligence. Minister Abdoulaye Mbodou Mbami sums up the challenge in three words: “rigour”, “inclusion” and “operationality”. In the end, this demand for effectiveness appears to be common to all the projects undertaken by N’Djamena, in pursuit of a clear but delicate triptych: attracting capital while solving the energy question; modernising infrastructure, which requires appropriate procedures and skills; and diversifying partnerships to turn diplomatic agreements into real, effective economic projects.