Defending Africa's interests topped Egypt's foreign policy priorities in 2022: Foreign ministry report

Egypt under President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in 2022 continued the efforts aimed at strengthening relations with African countries, for being a top priority in the country's foreign policy, according to a report released by the Foreign Ministry on Saturday. Since President Sisi took office in 2014, Egypt has been seeking to have an active role in various mechanisms of joint African action, as the president was keen to enhance the country's presence in Africa, through paying several visits to African states and signing many bilateral agreements in different fields.

After assuming the African Union's presidency in 2019, Egypt has maintained cooperation with all African countries and positively responded to the developments in Africa.

While Egypt moves ahead with building the new republic, the country gives a top priority in its foreign policy to defending the interests of the African continent and working to achieve the aspirations of African peoples for a better future. President Sisi has always been calling in his speeches at all conference and summits for mobilizing the international community's efforts to support development in Africa. The president reiterated this call during his recent meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the second Us-africa Leaders Summit in Washington. During the summit held from 13-15 December, Sisi emphasized the African continent is in need of support from major countries to build a strong continental infrastructure for the success of African development efforts.

The president also reviewed Egypt's vision to achieve food security for Africa amid the current global food crisis.

Egypt's plan to achieve food security for Africa includes establishing mechanisms to reduce the debt burden, through exemption, exchange, or easy payment, and intensifying agricultural investments directed to Africa, through the transfer of modern technologies on easy terms, as well as keeping global trade open.

He also called for providing support by major countries to help African states maximize the benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) in the areas of infrastructure and agriculture.

The president also stressed the close link between food and water security, which Egypt sees as national security, according to the Foreign Ministry report.

This matter requires a political will to formulate legal frameworks for cooperation between countries that share water resources in a way that contributes to achieving development without causing harm to any country, Sisi said. The president underlined that bringing about food security is linked to climate adaptation efforts, referring in this regard to the outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, hosted by Egypt in November.

In this regard, he said that Egypt launched a number of initiatives on climate change adaptation, citing the establishment of the Cairo Center for Learning and Excellence on Adaptation and Resilience in cooperation with the US, as well as initiating the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation's Initiative, in cooperation with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The president pointed out that the COP27 had attached great importance to the necessity of providing USD 100 billion annually by development countries to help developing countries face the impacts of climate change. President Sisi noted the COP27 succeeded for the first time in establishing a loss and damage fund for supporting the nations that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

During his participation in the African Union (Au)-european Union (EU) summit held in Brussels in February, the president said the support offered to African countries, including Egypt, to confront the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic represents a key step towards achieving the comprehensive partnership in the health field. He called on European partners to provide coronavirus vaccines for African states.

In his speech at the High-level Session of Petersberg Climate Dialogue in July, the president shed light on the limited potential of African countries to deal with crises due to the lack of financing available to them to address challenges.

President Sisi stated that the crises of food and energy have added to the challenges encountered by African countries, citing the climate change that poses a real threat to the African nations that suffer from desertification, water scarcity, sea level rise, floods and torrents.

The report spotlight on Egypt's keenness to achieve consensus among African countries on the main threats to peace and security, foremost of which is the threat of terrorism, as well as its efforts to attain sustainable development in the continent.

In this context, Egypt sought during its presidency of the African Union in 2019 to attach great importance to the most important collective action mechanisms agreed upon within the framework of the African Union, especially the AU Agenda 2063.

This is in addition to various initiatives aimed at bringing about the regional economic integration and promoting intra-trade in the continent. Egypt's presidency of the AU also focused on strengthening the mechanisms for preventing and settling African conflicts, in addition to enhancing the institutional reform of the African Union.