Around 1,500 African business leaders and more than 20 heads of state and government representatives gathered in El-Alamein for a forum co-organized by the Egyptian government, the African Export-Import Bank and the African Union Development Agency. The three-day meeting, held from Oct. 2 to 4, focused on investment, trade and financing growth. The account doesn’t identify workers and residents affected by the projects; it names officials, banks and businesses.
Who Sets the Agenda
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the private sector accounts for more than 70 percent of Africa’s gross domestic product, while around 85 percent of African private-sector transactions happen with companies outside the continent. He described the forum as a way to help African firms find opportunities closer to home and build cross-border partnerships. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, chairperson of the African Union Commission, said intra-African trade reached $220 billion in 2024, or 14.4 percent of the continent’s trade. It grew by 12.4 percent after contracting by 5.9 percent in the previous year. “Africa can do much better,” Youssouf said.
The forum’s mandate covers infrastructure, trade, agriculture, healthcare, mining, technology and renewable energy. An African Union mandate will guide its biennial schedule. The agenda spans the continent, but the account traces decision-making to state offices, financial institutions and corporate partnerships—not assemblies of people who live and work in the places being reshaped.
Egypt’s General Authority for Investment and Free Zones held talks with investment agencies, industrial companies and development institutions. GAFI CEO Mohamed Awad and Executive Vice President Waleed Anwar led engagements that included Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Dr. Mohamed Farid Saleh. They discussed investment, industrial manufacturing and export corridors. Awad also met Omar Rekkache, Director General of the Algerian Investment Promotion Agency, to discuss joint industrial ventures and combining production capacities to reach sub-Saharan markets.
GAFI officials met India’s Motherson Group, a manufacturer of automotive and aerospace components. Gautam Mangar, the company’s Head of Business Development, said Motherson was evaluating manufacturing opportunities in Egypt. Awad offered institutional support, citing Egypt’s workforce and industrial capabilities, while Anwar described investment incentives and the Free Zone System for firms targeting export markets.
Capital Moves; Workers Remit
The official figures track trade and investment alongside money workers send home. Egypt and the countries covered by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development recorded $1.1 billion in trade during the first seven months of 2026, up from $1 billion in the same period in 2025. Egyptian exports totaled $891 million, compared with $901 million a year earlier; imports rose to $167 million from $114 million. The covered countries were Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, alongside Egypt.
CAPMAS reported that investment by NEPAD countries in Egypt reached $190.7 million in fiscal year 2024/2025, up from $39 million in fiscal year 2023/2024. Egyptian investment in NEPAD countries rose to $251 million from $143.3 million. Remittances from Egyptians working in those countries reached $27 million, while remittances from workers from NEPAD countries in Egypt reached $10.8 million. Those figures set workers’ cross-border earnings beside the larger investment flows under discussion.
Cities, Finance and the People Left Out
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly urged African countries to turn urbanization into economic growth, industrialization and jobs, saying Africa’s urban population is projected to double by 2050. He called cities economic, social and environmental ecosystems, and cited Egypt’s “fourth-generation cities,” including the New Administrative Capital, New Alamein and New Mansoura, as examples of integrated planning. He also pointed to Egyptian firms’ infrastructure projects in Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana.
Madbouly said governments alone can’t close the funding gap for infrastructure and housing, and called for partnerships with the private sector and development finance institutions. Egypt’s 2025/26 fiscal plan targets 310,000 new housing units, including 285,000 for social housing. He warned that informal settlements could expand without investment in affordable housing, while describing technology, climate resilience and investment attraction as core city requirements.
Other meetings addressed financing for companies and large projects. The African Export-Import Bank discussions covered market access for Egyptian small and medium-sized enterprises, trade finance, export guarantees and support for technology startups. Ciro Aquino of Italy’s export credit agency SACE met Farid Saleh and Awad about co-financing infrastructure, green-energy and digital projects. The forum’s record is clear: officials and financial institutions are designing channels for capital, while the people whose housing, labor and cities sit inside those plans have no reported seat at the table.