African leaders gathered in Egypt’s New Alamein from October 2 to 4 with a message centered on execution rather than aspiration: the continent’s development agenda will only advance if African institutions, financing mechanisms and joint delivery structures actually work. Three consecutive high-level events formed the backdrop. The Alamein Africa Forum, a summit of the founding states of the African Union Development Agency (Auda-Nepad), and the 8th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities hosted a series of interventions that repeatedly returned to one practical question: how do plans become functioning projects?
The Auda-Nepad summit on Saturday put implementation at the center of the discussion. Leaders and representatives of the African Union Commission and the agency’s five founding states (Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa) attended, alongside Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye, the current chairperson of the AU. The founding states stressed the need for the continent to rely on its own resources and capabilities to achieve development and advance the goals of Agenda 2063, the AU’s 50-year plan (2013-2063) designed to transform the continent into a global powerhouse through inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi told the summit that the time had come for Africa to rely more on its own resources and to develop and adopt African financing mechanisms. The Alamein Declaration, issued at the conclusion of the summit, placed special importance on the African private sector as a key driver in accelerating implementation of the second 10-year plan of Agenda 2063, he noted, highlighting the role of African business leaders, investors and private capital in getting that plan delivered.
Ndayishimiye focused on institutional capacity. He stressed the need to strengthen Auda-Nepad’s ability to expand infrastructure projects and enhance coordination among African institutions, as well as coordination between Auda-Nepad and the AU. The agency itself was founded in 2018 to coordinate regional and continental projects advancing the realization of Agenda 2063 and to strengthen the capacity of AU member states and regional bodies, making it the operational arm through which much of this delivery is expected to flow.
Other leaders framed the delivery challenge in terms of the services and outcomes citizens are waiting for. Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said Africa faced challenges including poverty, achieving food security, providing job opportunities for young people and improving health services. Angolan President Lourenco argued that Auda-Nepad was established to meet Africa’s need to take responsibility for setting its own development agenda and determining its priorities, and that the agency’s priorities should align with the circumstances and capabilities required to perform its tasks effectively.
Meanwhile, at the AU’s eighth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting, which opened on Sunday, El-Sisi argued that coordination alone no longer suffices. “It is no longer enough to coordinate our positions; rather, our capabilities must be integrated, and we must forge our future through joint efforts,” he said. His remarks pointed to the gap between aligned positions on paper and integrated capabilities on the ground.
The Egyptian president also reaffirmed Egypt’s rejection of external interference in the domestic affairs of African countries and called for respect for state sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. On the operational question of shared resources, he stressed the importance of addressing transnational issues through cooperation and dialogue, including the management and use of natural resources and transboundary rivers in accordance with international law. “Cooperation in managing transboundary rivers must be based on relevant rules of international law, consultation, coordination, and the principles of good neighborliness and non-harm,” he said.
Regional tensions formed a complicating backdrop to the delivery agenda. The AU has called on Ethiopia, Eritrea and Egypt to exercise “maximum restraint” amid mounting diplomatic tensions, as Ethiopia closed its embassy in Eritrea on Thursday, and Ethiopia and Egypt recently expelled a diplomat from each other’s embassies. El-Sisi is set to participate on Sunday in the Alamein Consultative Summit, bringing together the leaders of Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia.
Taken together, the New Alamein gatherings presented a consistent picture: African leaders want the continent’s development machinery, from Auda-Nepad’s project coordination to African financing mechanisms and private sector involvement, to move from framework to functioning delivery, with Agenda 2063’s second 10-year plan as the immediate test of whether that shift happens.