CAIRO — Even after its one-year chairmanship term of the African Union (AU) ended in 2019, Egypt continues to prioritize Africa when it comes to its foreign policy.
On April 29, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi participated in a mini summit for AU leaders held via video conference to discuss the coronavirus outbreak. During the meeting, Sisi underlined the importance of the results reached in previous summits, mainly the establishment of an African fund to confront the novel coronavirus aimed to mobilize resources and implement projects in the health-care sector.
Sisi stressed the need to communicate with international partners and global institutions to support African countries economically in the medium and long run and offer the necessary support, including medical and preventive supplies to halt the pandemic, as part of the Egyptian initiative proposed in a previous meeting.
During a March 26 online mini African summit, African leaders agreed to establish the AU’s COVID-19 Response Fund, under the framework of the African Business Coalition for Health. Sisi, who took part in the meeting, pledged his country’s financial support for the fund and proposed a debt relief initiative for African countries, which was widely welcomed by African leaders. His initiative was addressed to the Group of 20 (G-20), the Group of Eight (G-8), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to consider easing debt burdens in light of the repercussions of the coronavirus crisis.
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