ASWAN – President Abdel Fattah El Sisi underlined on Sunday the important role played by Africa in countering growing global polarization, which weakened the ability of multilateral institutions to fulfill their mandates.
In a recorded message delivered during the opening session of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development on Sunday, Sisi said the continent. endowed with vast resources and a large, youthful population, has the opportunity to be at the forefront of efforts to restore a balanced global order and strengthen the role of international organizations, despite ongoing challenges.
“We are witnessing a failure by the international community to adequately respond to major humanitarian crises,” Sisi said, underlining the importance of post-conflict reconstruction and development after the end of conflicts, as well as the implementation of African Union policies aimed at achieving peace and sustainable growth.
He noted that Africa remains among the regions most affected by current global conditions, which have fueled violence and exacerbated development challenges, the President said.
Since its launch in 2019, the Aswan Forum has established itself as a unique African platform for addressing regional challenges and developing joint visions to promote peace and sustainable development across the continent, President Sisi said.
President Sisi underscored the gravity of the current global situation marked by international failure to effectively respond to major humanitarian crises, double standards and selectivity in upholding international values and human rights and continued violations of international law.
This situation, Sisi warned, led to an increasingly polarized international environment, which has weakened multilateral institutions and hampered their reform.
He also highlighted the international community’s failure in supporting developing nations, especially as regards debt relief and climate finance.
The president emphasized that Africa remains among the most affected regions by these global disruptions, leading to escalation of conflicts and violence, increased competition over resources, worsening developmental challenges and obstacles to peace and sustainable development.
He also pointed to chronic and evolving threats in the continent, including internal crises and external interventions that undermine state authority, the spread of terrorism, rising illegal emigration, transnational organized crime and emerging challenges in cybersecurity and the climate crisis, which directly impact food and water security.
Despite these daunting challenges, President Sisi said Africa has still a chance to take a leading role in efforts to restore global order, credibility, and multilateralism.
He noted that Africa has rich human and natural resources and has made significant strides in leveraging its potential to promote sustainable development.
President Sisi said this year’s edition of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development will spotlight the most pressing and emerging security threats across the continent, along with the most effective approaches to address them.
He emphasized the importance of advancing post-conflict reconstruction and development, a file that Egypt is proud to lead within the African Union, in alignment with the Union’s updated policy framework aimed at promoting peace and sustainable development.
The president also noted that the forum will explore investment in infrastructure and strategic corridors and the role of the private sector and innovative partnerships in achieving development goals.
The forum, he said, will pay special attention to women and youth, especially as this edition coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda and the t0th anniversary of the Youth, Peace, and Security Agenda.
President Sisi expressed confidence that the African continent is capable of protecting and fulfilling the aspirations of its peoples for peace, sustainable development, and a just world order governed by human values and guided by solidarity and cooperation among all nations.
