Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called on the G7 countries to work towards finding solutions to Africa’s challenges, including terrorism, and to maintain security and stability in the Dark Continent.
Speaking at the G7-Africa Partnership Session, held in the French seaside town of Biarritz, Sisi emphasized the aspirations of the peoples of the continent for peace and sustainable development, and to establish a just and sustained partnership based on common interests.
“We don’t need to review the challenges facing Africa in detail, but we need to work together to find solutions, according to the priorities of the countries of the continent, and based on the organic relationship between achieving development in all its dimensions on the one hand, and maintaining security and stability on the other,” Sisi told the participants.
The Egyptian president focused on the situation in Libya, saying that it was “serious and dangerous” and should be given particular attention.
In this regard, he called for concerted international efforts to guarantee the safety of the Libyan people and preserve the country’s capabilities and resources.
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He stressed that the way out of the crisis in Libya was known, and required “political will and sincere intentions in order to begin a comprehensive political settlement process that addresses all aspects of the crisis, mainly restoring stability, eradicating terrorism, and ending foreign interference.”
Sisi, on the other hand, underlined the tremendous opportunities that the Dark Continent could offer to the world.
“If these challenges impose a responsibility on us to cooperate to confront them, our African countries have equally promising opportunities and diverse potentials to qualify as a reliable partner for the international community,” he said.
“We have a large market and rich human resources, and other attractive factors, notably projects to develop the African infrastructure… with the aim to achieve regional and continental integration and efforts to liberalize intra-trade, through the activation of the African free trade zone, and steps to strengthen the economic role of the private sector,” the president remarked.
Egypt is participating in the G7 summit as chairman of the African Union in 2019.
Sisi on Monday held separate talks with US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the G7 meetings.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
