Egypt’s Minister Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Egyptian Expatriates Badr Abdel-Aati, held phone talks on Thursday with Secretary-General of the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) WamkeleMene, to discuss ways of supporting economic and trade integration and enhancing intra-African trade.
Minister Abdel-Aati reaffirmed the importance Egypt attaches to the implementation of the AfCFTA, which he referred to as “one of the continent’s most significant integration projects”.
He also stressed the need to continue efforts to remove theobstacles that hinder trade and investment flows among African countries, the ministry said in a press release.
AfCFTA offers substantial opportunities to expand intra-African trade and commercial exchange, contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals and the objectives of Africa’s Agenda 2063, Minister Abdel-Aatiadded.
The phone chat also addressed ways of strengthening co-operation between Egypt and the Secretariat and building on Egypt’s longstanding support for African economic integration.
Abdel-Aati reviewed Egypt’s efforts to advance the continent’s development agenda through its expertise in trade and development, as well as training and capacity-building programmes it provides to fellow African countries to support economic integration and sustainable development.
For his part, Mene praised Egypt’s active role in supporting economic integration across Africa and commended its contributions to advancing the implementation of the agreement and promoting intra-African trade.
He added that he looks forward to maintaining close co-operation with Egypt in the coming period in support of development and prosperity in the member states.
