Aswan: The Fifth Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development kicked off on Sunday in Aswan, Egypt. Themed “A World in Flux, A Continent in Motion: Navigating Africa’s Progress Amid Global Shifts”, the two-day event convenes a distinguished assembly of ministers, decision-makers, representatives of regional and international organizations, financial institutions, as well as the private sector and civil society, reflecting the prestigious status of the forum as a platform for dialogue and strategic collaboration.
According to Qatar News Agency, the forum aims to advance peace, security, and development, establish stability, and achieve comprehensive sustainable development across Africa through high-level sessions addressing pivotal issues, including the challenges of peace and security in Africa, fostering partnerships to address resource scarcity. It likewise addresses the role of artificial intelligence in strengthening peace and development, sustainable solutions for forced displacement, mediation challenges in Africa, and economic integration through investment in infrastructure and cross-border cooperation.
In a recorded address during the opening session, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi underscored that the forum’s convening this year reflects that Africa is at the heart of the pressing tests facing the global system. He emphasized the opportunity for Africa to assume a leading role in efforts to restore the cohesion and credibility of the international order and to bolster the role of international organizations in a more inclusive and transparent manner.
The forum spotlights the foremost emerging and existing security challenges in Africa, alongside best practices to address them, as well as post-conflict reconstruction and development efforts and the full implementation of the African Union’s updated policies, all as part of achieving sustainable peace and development, El-Sisi highlighted. He noted that the event examines strategic investment in infrastructure and corridors, as well as the role of the private sector and innovative partnerships in achieving development objectives, with particular attention to women and young people, marking 25 years of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda and 10 years of the Youth, Peace, and Security agenda.
El-Sisi stressed that Africa remains at the forefront of regions impacted by current international conditions, which exacerbates conflicts, violence, and competition over resources, deepens developmental challenges, and hinders the path toward enduring peace and development. He outlined that Africa continues to confront chronic and emerging challenges, whether due to internal crises or external interventions that undermine state authority, alongside the spread of terrorism, rising irregular migration, transnational organized crime, and growing threats in cybersecurity and climate change, all of which have direct negative consequences on food and water security.