Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Atty met on Sunday with Nardos Bekele-Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), to discuss strengthening cooperation on key development initiatives, the foreign ministry said. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the fifth Aswan Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development. Abdel-Atty praised progress achieved under Bekele-Thomas's leadership and reaffirmed Egypt's commitment to advancing joint projects during its current chairmanship of NEPAD's Steering Committee of Heads of State and Government. He said Egypt is participating in the first phase of funding for the Demographic Dividend and Positive Health Programme in Africa, which supports public health and demographic development goals. Abdel-Atty underscored Egypt's priorities as chair, including mobilising resources for the African Union's Agenda 2063, supporting infrastructure and industrialisation projects, and promoting the African Continental Free Trade Area. He also voiced Egypt's support for expanding NEPAD offices across the continent and welcomed progress on the Africa Growth Initiatives (AGI), which aim to mobilise $500 billion for about 300 development projects. The minister highlighted Egypt's backing for a proposed NEPAD Development Fund and ongoing efforts under the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI), including the Navigational Line Between Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea (VICMED) Project and the Cairo–Cape Town Highway. He further stressed the need for initiatives that integrate peace, security, and development — in line with the AU's post-conflict reconstruction policy — coordinated between NEPAD and Egypt's Cairo International Centre for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping, and Peacebuilding (CCCPA). Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English Subediting: Y.Yasser
