Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called again for an immediate ceasefire and full access to humanitarian and relief aid, stressing the categorical rejection of claims of forced displacement of citizens in Gaza, and the need to begin a political path based on the foundations of the two-state solution as the only way to end the current crisis.
This came in the speech delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the first Saudi-African Summit, which was held in Riyadh on Friday.
During his speech, He added that although today's meeting focuses on discussing economic relations between African countries and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I would like to begin my speech by addressing the extremely dangerous situation in Gaza, which has become a real humanitarian catastrophe as a result of the unprecedented use of the military power and the deliberate pursuit of a policy of punishment, starvation and siege, which cannot be continued.
He explained that Egypt interacts seriously with all challenges on the African arena at the security, political and development levels, and works to carry the banner and defend African interests in all forums.
He stressed that Egypt is using its current presidency of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA) to study all possible ways to achieve the aspirations of the African peoples and implement the goals of the 2063 development agenda.
He continued: "Similarly, Egypt's leadership in post-conflict reconstruction and development at the level of the African Union reflects the conviction that there is no development without security, and Egypt is working to implement a number of pioneering programs in this field in conflict areas on the continent."
Shoukry stressed that Egypt has spared no effort in contributing to the implementation of promising projects in African countries, by benefiting from the capabilities of Egyptian private sector companies, which have proven their ability to implement giant projects with international specifications on African soil, most notably the Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania.
He stressed that Egypt continues to address the international community to deal more effectively with the economic challenges facing the African continent, the most important of which is the need to establish mechanisms to reduce the burden of debt, and the necessity of working to reform international financial institutions to be more reflective of the needs of African countries,
Finally, the minister pointed to the importance of intensifying investments in the areas of industrial transformation and enhancing agricultural productivity in a way that prevents the exploitation of our natural resources, and the necessity of maintaining the openness of the global trade movement, including by benefiting from the African Free Trade Agreement.
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