Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema, have stressed the crucial need to promote cooperation and integration within Africa as part of their countries’ commitment to fostering stability in the continent.
Egypt’s presidential spokesman, Mohamed el-Shennawy, said Monday that the two leaders held a closed-door meeting, followed by expanded discussions that involved the two countries' official delegations.
They also witnessed the signing of a number of cooperation agreements between the two countries, the spokesman said.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Sisi said that he held fruitful and constructive discussions with Hichilema that reflected the shared political will to shore up bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, social and development domains.
Sisi expressed Egypt’s readiness to transfer its development expertise and provide all forms of support and assistance to Zambia with the view to enhancing the capabilities of its workforce in priority areas, and collaborating on strengthening operational frameworks within Zambia's state institutions.
The Egyptian President highlighted the investment opportunities in the “Lobito Corridor” project, as part of efforts to stimulate the engagement of the Egyptian public and private sectors in investment activities in Zambia.
This aims to unlock new avenues for cooperation between the two countries’ business communities and capitalize on the Egyptian-Zambian Business Forum, held during Hichilema’s visit, he said.
“Driven by this commitment, we agreed on enhancing the contractual frameworks between our countries in the areas of political consultation, promotion of mutual investments, agriculture, aquaculture, and infrastructure,” Sisi said.
He added that they also agreed on the importance of joint action and the need to coordinate positions to advance African priorities on the international agenda.
Hichilema and Sisi underscored the importance of reforming continental organizations to boost their capabilities to address current challenges and to better serve the interests of their peoples.
“We emphasized the crucial need to utilize continental frameworks, notably the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), to bolster regional integration and amalgamation among African countries,” Sisi said.
In addition, the talks touched on a multitude of regional and international issues of mutual interest, with special focus on developments in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Horn of Africa, as well as Red Sea security and water security.
The two leaders reiterated their countries’ commitment to fostering stability in Africa and the Middle East region.
