Egypt turns South: Sisi courts African business at El-Alamein

Eighty-five percent of African private-sector transactions are conducted with companies outside the continent. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi used that figure on Saturday to open the inaugural Alamein Africa Forum, a three-day business summit in the Mediterranean city of El-Alamein.

More than 20 heads of state and government representatives attended, alongside business leaders, bankers and development institutions. 

Sisi said Africa's private sector produces over 70 percent of the continent's GDP, yet remains better connected to distant markets than to its neighbors. The forum, he said, should help African firms find opportunities closer to home and build cross-border partnerships.

African Union Commission chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf pointed to some progress. Intra-African trade reached $220 billion in 2024, or 14.4 percent of the continent's total trade, after growing 12.4 percent following a 5.9 percent contraction the year before. "Africa can do much better," he told delegates.

The forum will become a biennial event under an AU mandate, covering infrastructure, trade, agriculture, health care, mining, technology and renewable energy.

Egypt looks south

The event also reflects Cairo's shift in focus. After years centered on the Middle East and the Mediterranean, Egypt is courting Africa at a time when China and Gulf powers, especially the UAE, have expanded their footprint there. 

Officials put Egyptian investments on the continent at about $14 billion, including Tanzania's $3 billion Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project.

The summit also gives Egypt a platform to seek African backing in its long-running dispute with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Cairo sees as a threat to its share of Nile waters. 

Ethiopia, which inaugurated the dam last year, says it is essential for its development. Egypt wants the dam's operation governed by a binding agreement.