Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said that "Egypt has come a long way on the economic reform path" during the third Africa 2018 economic forum, which kicked off on Saturday.

"Egypt has come a long way in economic and social reform, structural reforms in various sectors, and the creation of a more attractive environment for domestic and foreign investment. These reforms have contributed to improving Egypt's economic indicators and credit ratings," said El-Sisi.

The president said that Egypt wishes to share its expertise in implementing economic and social reform with other African countries undertaking economic reforms.

El-Sisi said that successful reforms require the development of roads, airports, ports, electricity, energy, water and sanitation networks.

El-Sisi welcomed the heads of African states and international and regional organisations to Sharm El-Sheikh for the third year of the forum.

"Our meeting this year comes at a time when we are all looking for further regional integration and facilitating intra-regional trade, especially after the African Union launched the Free Trade Area (CTA) during the summit held in Nouakchott in March 2018," El-Sisi said. 

The president added that Egypt "looks forward to increasing investments among the continent's countries through joint and cross-border projects, particularly in the areas of infrastructure, new and renewable energy, telecommunications and information technology."

"We aspire to achieve these goals through joint action under the framework of the African Union, which Egypt is chairing next year."

El-Sisi said that huge investments are needed to allow the reform process to be carried out effectively, calling on investors from Africa and abroad to take advantage of the promising opportunities in Africa to promote development and stability. 

"Egypt has been keen to increase its investments in Africa, which increased by $1.2 billion in 2018 to reach $10.2 billion," said El-Sisi.