Egypt s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended on Wednesday via video conference the 40th session of the steering committee of NEPAD (Photo: Egyptian Presidency)
NEPAD, which is the development arm of the African Union (AU), organises and finances projects and programs to achieve sustainable development goals in the continent.
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame handed over the two-year presidency of the steering committee to Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi via video conference.
The meeting was attended by African heads of state and government as well as members of the committee, Fahmy added.
The NEPAD strategic framework document was prepared in 2001 by the leaders of the five initiating states - Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa - in response to a mandate given to them by the Summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union.
Financing to face Int'l economic crisis
In his acceptance speech, the Egyptian president reviewed Egypt's priorities during its presidency of the NEPAD steering committee.
El-Sisi called for new and non-traditional financing resources, especially in light of the international economic crisis that undermines development efforts in Africa.
He also stressed the importance of cooperation to settle the accumulated debt crisis to put the continent on the way to economic recovery.
Mobililising resources - Sharing expertise
El-Sisi also noted that Egypt, as president of NEPAD, will seek to mobilise financial resources in areas of priority for Africa – including infrastructure development – in a way that ensures achieving the goals of the African Development Agenda 2063.
The list of priorities, he explained, includes 69 projects during the period from 2021-2030.
These projects include, for example, the navigational line between Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Cairo-Cape Town Road.
Egypt will also focus on industrial transformation , El-Sisi added.
In this context, the president stated, Egypt intends to build on the results achieved during the extraordinary African Summit on Industralisation that was held in Niamey in November 2022 .
El-Sisi also stressed the importance of speeding up the realisation of the aspirations targeted by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and completing negotiations on all its additional protocols.
He explained that the AfCFTA will provide African countries with opportunities to integrate into the global economy and to increase job opportunities, especially among youth and women.
The Egyptian president also underlined the necessity of sharing African expertise in the area of developing infrastructure, including Egypt's own experiment in developing infrastructure over the past eight years.
He also cited cooperation between Egypt and Tanzania on building the Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Power Project (JNHPP) as an example of sharing expertise.
"[JNHPP] is a model to follow for cooperation between African countries in the field of development … and we are fully prepared to share the experience of Egyptian companies with other sister African countries," El-Sisi stressed.
He called for intensifying cooperation with global partners and international financing institutions to bridge the financing gap in sustainable development projects and reduce debt burdens for the most affected countries.
The president also urged taking advantage of the new initiatives put forward during the partnership summits of the AU.
El-Sisi said he looks forward to hearing the proposals of the heads of state and government and of members of the NEPAD steering committee in this regard.
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