Egypt’s FM Takes Part in High-Level PICI Meeting

Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs Badr Abdel Aaty, participated on Friday in a high-level virtual meeting of the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI), a flagship African Union program aimed at accelerating infrastructure development across the continent.

The meeting was chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and brought together a number of African heads of state and government, senior officials, and the Chief Executive Officer of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD).

During the session, Abdel Aaty conveyed President El-Sisi’s greetings to the participating leaders and expressed Egypt’s appreciation for President Ramaphosa’s leadership of the initiative. He also praised the role played by AUDA-NEPAD and the PICI Secretariat in advancing infrastructure development as a driver of sustainable growth and continental integration.

The Egyptian foreign minister emphasized that the initiative reflects a shared African conviction that infrastructure development is a cornerstone for achieving economic growth, enhancing regional integration, and strengthening resilience, noting its central role in advancing the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

Abdel Aaty highlighted that persistent challenges in transport, energy, and digital connectivity continue to directly affect Africa’s development prospects, intra-African trade, and industrialization efforts. In this context, he stressed that PICI offers a practical framework capable of translating political commitment into concrete actions and bankable, implementable projects.

He commended the progress achieved in recent years, particularly in overcoming many of the traditional obstacles that have long hindered the implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects across the continent.

The foreign minister also reaffirmed Egypt’s strong commitment to addressing Africa’s infrastructure financing gap, especially in light of President El-Sisi’s chairmanship of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Steering Committee. He pointed to ongoing efforts to mobilize investment, enhance project bankability, and deepen partnerships with regional and international financial institutions.

Abdel Aaty further noted that studies are currently underway to assess the feasibility of establishing an African Development Fund as a potential additional mechanism to support the financing of priority continental infrastructure projects.