By Ambassador Dr Mohamed Higazy
Measuring the success of nations in the twenty-first century is no longer determined solely by the natural resources they possess or their military capabilities, but also by their ability to create platforms that generate ideas, direct investment, and build international partnerships. Global forums are no longer merely protocol-driven gatherings; they have become influential institutions in shaping economic policies and defining the future of international relations.
The World Economic Forum in Davos is perhaps the most prominent example of this phenomenon. Over more than five decades, it has evolved into a platform bringing together heads of state and government, global business leaders, financial institutions, and academia to discuss the future of the global economy, technology, energy, and investment. The importance of Davos does not lie simply in its being an annual conference, but rather in its role as an institution for generating ideas, launching initiatives, and building international consensus.
Against this backdrop, the need emerges for a comparable African platform, one that begins with the continent’s own priorities, reflects its interests, and brings governments together with the private sector, international financial institutions, and development partners around a unified economic agenda. Africa, with a population of more than 1.4 billion people, the world’s largest reserves of many strategic minerals, the fastest rates of population growth, and some of the broadest investment opportunities, still lacks a continent-wide platform capable of bringing together economic and investment dialogue at this level.
The first edition of the Alamein Africa Forum comes at a particularly important moment, not merely because it brings together African leaders, policymakers, and investors, but because it represents an opportunity to establish a new institutional tradition that would make New Alamein a permanent centre for African economic dialogue, just as Davos has become synonymous with global economic dialogue.
The choice of New Alamein is not simply a matter of selecting a venue for the forum; it carries profound strategic significance. The city represents a model of an Egypt that is building for the future, investing in smart cities, modern infrastructure, digital transformation, and environmental sustainability. It also reflects Egypt’s vision of its role as a bridge connecting Africa with Europe, the Arab world, and Asia, drawing on its geographic position, its network of ports, the Suez Canal, and its trade agreements with various economic blocs.
Yet for the forum to fulfill its ambitions, it must go beyond an exchange of views and speeches. It should become a platform for launching continental initiatives, mobilising financing, and monitoring implementation. The real value of any international forum is not measured by the number of participants, but by the projects, partnerships, and institutions that emerge from it and their capacity to create a tangible impact on the lives of peoples.
The first edition of the forum, therefore, represents a historic opportunity for Egypt to launch a package of strategic initiatives that respond to Africa’s development priorities and draw upon Egypt’s accumulated expertise in healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, energy, digital transformation, education, and investment. These initiatives could include establishing a fund to finance Egyptian companies operating in Africa, a trade-barter fund, an African livestock and meat exchange in Aswan, an African platform for artificial-intelligence training, public-health and endemic-disease-control initiatives, and an African satellite television channel broadcasting from Cairo, alongside bilateral development partnerships with African countries tailored to the priorities of each country.
The success of the Alamein Forum would not be a success for Egypt alone; it would be a success for the continent as a whole. It would provide an institutional framework that brings together political will and the strength of the private sector, transforms the African Union’s Agenda 2063 from an ambitious document into a set of implementable projects, and gives investors a stable window through which to identify and pursue opportunities across the continent.
Egypt, with its historic record of supporting national liberation movements and the development experience it has accumulated over the past decade in infrastructure, energy, new cities, digital transformation, and healthcare, is well positioned to contribute to and help advance this transformation, and to make the Alamein Forum a permanent African platform for dialogue and action.
This is the idea from which we begin this weekly series, “Towards Alamein”: not merely to celebrate a new forum, but to contribute to shaping a practical agenda ahead of its convening, propose initiatives that can be implemented, and open a broad dialogue on the future of Egyptian-African partnership. In a world competing to shape the future, it is not enough simply to participate in international forums; we must take the initiative to create our own platforms and shape, with our own hands, the future of our continent.
In the next installment, we will examine the first proposed initiative: “The Egyptian Fund for Financing Egyptian Companies in Africa”… How can Egyptian investment become a driving force for development and economic integration across the continent?
Dr Mohamed Higazy
Former assistant foreign minister
