The third edition of the Aswan Forum for Peace and Development, titled ‘Africa in an Era of Successive Risks and Climate Vulnerability: Paths to a Peaceful, Resilient, and Sustainable Continent’, will kick-off on 21 June in Cairo under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
Hamdi Sanad Loza — Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for African Affairs — revealed some details regarding the forum in a press conference that was held on Monday.
The forum is expected to run for two days and will start with an opening session in which Al-Sisi, the Chairperson of the African Union (AU), and the Head of the African Commission will speak, followed by a ministerial session.
Loza added that the third session of the forum is quite important given that it is an important stop in the lead-up to the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP 27) that will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh this November.
The forum will shed light on the repercussions of climate change on efforts to achieve peace and security in Africa based on Egypt’s leading role in strengthening international and African cooperation in terms of peace, security, and climate change.
For his part, Ahmed Abdel Latif — Director of the Cairo International Centre for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping, and Peacebuilding (CCCPA) — said that the Aswan Forum is a high-level platform that brings together leaders of African countries, international and regional organisations, financial institutions, the private sector, and civil society.
“This is in addition to visionaries, scientists, and leading experts that participate in practical and context-specific discussions and contribute forward-looking visions of new threats and challenges as well as explore future opportunities,” he added.
Abdel Latif also said that the forum will discuss in 15 sessions the successive risks of climate change and their repercussions on peace and security in Africa in terms of armed conflicts, terrorism, and food security in Africa
Furthermore, he noted that these sessions will also cover the interconnectedness of climate change adaptation and peacebuilding, the intersection of climate change with food and water security, the relationship between displacement and climate change in Africa, and adopting a comprehensive approach to combating terrorism.
Additionally, the forum will discuss the role of women in strengthening resilience, financing sustainable peace and development, building national institutions in light of successive risks, efforts to spread the culture of peace through the employment of heritage and the arts, and the role of African youths in strengthening resilience and achieving sustainable peace and development.
Abdel Latif also explained that Africa is particularly interested in the topic of peacebuilding, post-conflict redevelopment, and reconstruction, noting that Egypt is a leading country in this domain and that Cairo hosted the AU Reconstruction and Development Centre last December.
