President Sisi in 2 addresses to AU Mid-Year Summit in Malabo
Africa holds tangible potential for integration, growth despite regional, global challenges
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi participated in the 7th Mid-Year Coordination Summit of the African Union (AU), held in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. The summit brought together the African Union’s Heads of State and Government to discuss key issues affecting the continent, including regional integration, the liberalisation of intra-African trade, and responses to regional and global challenges impacting development across Africa.
In a keynote address in his capacity as chairman of the African Union Development Agency’s (AUDA-NEPAD) Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee, President Sisi emphasized the central role that NEPAD continues to play in advancing Africa’s development agenda across multiple sectors.
President Sisi highlighted several core areas of progress, including efforts to bridge the continent’s development financing gap and accelerate the implementation of Africa’s Agenda 2063. He noted the agency’s achievements in human capital investment, especially in education and health, and its commitment to combating climate change. He affirmed that despite the many regional and international challenges and crises, Africa still holds vast potential for growth and prosperity.
Reflecting on his two-year tenure leading the NEPAD committee, President Sisi expressed confidence that the vision of a developed and integrated Africa is not just an aspiration but an achievable reality. He pointed to positive indicators from several African countries that have recorded higher-than-global growth rates and made strides in improving healthcare, education, industrial localisation, and investment climates, as well as implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
President Sisi also presented concrete results achieved during Egypt’s tenure in overseeing the NEPAD Steering Committee in co-operation with the member-states and regional economic groupings. These included the near-finalisation of a feasibility study for the creation of a development fund under NEPAD to mobilise sustainable financing across the continent.
He expressed hope that relevant AU institutions would soon approve the study so that the fund can commence its aspired role in mobilising development financing and motivating investments across the continent.
The president also cited progress in infrastructure development, with $500 million allocated to priority projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative. These efforts include advancing green infrastructure corridors, the continental master plan for energy, and the Common African Agricultural Policy all aimed at strengthening regional and continental integration.
In terms of human development, NEPAD secured $100 million for the African Population Grant Initiative, helping member states expand reproductive health services. An additional €100 million was allocated to support the African Skills Initiative, enhancing technical and vocational education while supporting digital transformation and youth employment.
President Sisi further underlined efforts to address climate change, notably the nearcompletion of a new NEPAD Centre of Excellence, expected to be launched in Cairo.
This centre will serve as a vital tool in the continent’s strategy to confront the existential threat of climate change.
In a separate address he delivered in his capacity as Chairman of the current session of the North African Regional Capability (NARC), President Sisi underscored Egypt’s full commitment to strengthening the peace and security system across the African continent. Such commitment, he explained, comes within the framework of Egypt’s leadership of the file of post-conflict reconstruction and development. It also emanates from Egypt’s firm faith in peace as the foundation for development and in integration as the path for building a better future for the continent.
“Our continent is grappling with a host of complex and interconnected geopolitical challenges, ranging from armed conflicts and the spread of terrorism to transnational organised crime and the escalating consequences of climate change,” President Sisi stated. These threats, he added, undermine Africa’s security, stability, and development, and require a unified and strategic response from all member states.
In this context, President Sisi stressed the growing importance of regional mechanisms tasked with maintaining peace and security; hence the need for coordinating our efforts to confront such challenges.
He cited the African Standby Force (ASF) as a central pillar of the AU’s Peace and Security Architecture, noting that its effectiveness relies on the readiness and coordination of its regional components among them, the North African Regional Capability, which Egypt currently chairs.
President Sisi praised the work of the NARC’s executive secretariat and associated planning, training, and evaluation units for their efforts in enhancing operational preparedness. A significant milestone, he said, was the successful field training exercise conducted in Algeria, which integrated the military, police, and civilian components and strengthened coordination for future peacekeeping missions.
Egyptian efforts in this regard reflect unwavering belief in the importance of preparedness and responsiveness to safe guard the potentials of peoples of our continent and to help realise their aspirations for peace, security, and prosperity,” President Sisi affirmed.
