President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi attended on Tuesday the opening session of the US-Africa Leaders Summit that is being hosted by the US under the title ‘United States of Africa Summit 2022.’
The summit is being held under the auspices of US President Joe Biden for three days in Washington, DC with the participation of 49 African leaders, including Egypt.
This will be the first meeting of African heads of state and a US president in Washington since 2014 and the largest international gathering in the US capital since before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
The summit’s agenda includes discussions on the Russian-Ukrainian War, climate change, trade, and the pandemic, according to the Associated Press.
US President Joe Biden will also deliver a speech at an African-American business meeting, hold meetings with African heads of state, and host a dinner at the White House. It is not known whether Al-Sisi will hold talks with the US President during his stay in the US capital.
Egypt is expected to raise the issue of Ethiopia’s Nile dam during the summit.
Negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and its effect on the Nile River have been stalled since April 2020, with Ethiopia unilaterally carrying out repeated operations to fill the dam, which was rejected by Egypt and Sundan, who resorted to the UN Security Council, which in turn passed off the the file to the African Union to handle.
Egypt’s participation in the summit is a testament to its significance in the continent, especially since the county has taken upon itself over the past years to help fellow African countries, highlight their problems to the world, request support for them and provide solutions to solve them.
On the side-lines of the first day of the summit, a civil society forum will be held under the title ‘Comprehensive Partnership to Promote the 2063 Agenda.’
The forum represents a common platform between senior government representatives and civil society and provides an opportunity for civil society organisations to express their opinion regarding marginalised groups in public life, workers’ rights, anti-corruption, and improving accountability.
The African Trade and Growth Pact will also be held at the ministerial level to discuss ways to implement the pact, enhance economic cooperation, increase the volume of trade and investments between the two sides, and support economic integration and intra-trade.
