Egypt’s Sisi calls upon major countries’ support for Africa to reduce food instability

CAIRO – 16 December 2022: The world has not had success in eliminating hunger around the globe, as international reports indicate that hunger rates have begun to increase over the past three years, said President Abdel Fattah E Sisi in his speech at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Closing Session on Promoting Food Security and Food Systems Resilience on Thursday evening.

“International statistics […] indicate that the number of people suffering from food insecurity around the world increased to 800 million people in 2022, with an increase of 150 million from 2019. Africa has more than a third of this number. Here, the question must be raised: How can a continent like Africa not produce its own food? How can a nation that does not produce its own food reap the fruits of economic development, or secure stability to build the future?” said President Sisi.

President Sisi shed light on Egypt's vision to enhance food security in the continent, said the Egyptian Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Rady in a statement.

President Sisi called for adopting development mechanisms to reduce the debt burden in a way that eases this burden for the African nations through writing off or swapping external debts, or easy repayment.

He added that the second pillar of Egypt’s vision is to intensify agricultural investments directed to Africa to develop productive and storage capacities through using modern technology on favorable terms.

The Egyptian President called upon major countries to support African countries to maximize their benefits by investing in infrastructure and agricultural projects, in a way that enhances the integration among the countries through the African Free Trade Agreement.

“There is no doubt that there is a close link between food and water security. Egypt views this link as national security, which requires a political will to formulate legal frameworks to control the course of cooperation between countries that share water resources, in a way that contributes to achieving development without causing significant harm,” said President Sisi.

It is worth mentioning that a dispute between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia dates back to May 2011 when Ethiopia started building the dam; Egypt voiced concern over its water share [55.5 billion cubic meters]. Constructions in the Grand Renaissance Dam started on April 2, 2011, at a cost of $4.8 billion. It was built by the Italian construction and engineering company Salini Impergilo. The dam is located on the Blue Nile with a planned capacity of 74 billion cubic meters and was expected to generate up to 6,000 megawatts of power.

Cairo holds Addis Ababa fully responsible for any significant harm to Egyptian interests that may result from Ethiopia's violation of its obligations, he added. Egypt asserts its legitimate right guaranteed in the UN Charter to take all necessary measures to protect its national security against any risks posed by Ethiopia's unilateral measures in the future, the foreign ministry spokesman concluded.

The President added in his speech that achieving food security is linked to climate adaptation efforts, reviewing the outcomes of Sharm El Sheikh Climate Change (COP27).

He said that Egypt launched a number of initiatives in the field of financing adaptation, including the establishment of the Cairo Center for Learning and Excellence on Adaptation and Resilience in cooperation with the United States. He added that Egypt also adopted the "Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation" (FAST) initiative with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

He continued that the conference also succeeded in establishing - for the first time - a fund to finance developing countries to overcome the losses and damages of climate change. “I look forward to starting the process of activating the fund,” the President said.

“African countries have prepared ambitious initiatives to contribute to the international efforts to deal with the crisis,” he continued, noting that the African Development Bank's allocation of $1.5 billion to support the purchase of strategic commodities, besides launching "Pharm" initiative by the African Union with France, and the electronic platform "ATEX" with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa to purchase strategic products at a discount.