CAIRO: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi announced that Egypt exerts efforts to launch a navigable channel in the Nile River, linking Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean, during his speech on the occasion of signing the African Free Trade Zone (AFTZ) agreement Wednesday.
The AFTZ agreement was signed between Africa’s economic blocs, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC,) to establish a free trade zone between the 26 member states by 2017, according to Presidential statement Wednesday.
“It is our honor that Egypt embraces establishing a tripartite free trade zone, by removing all the obstacles related to customs or else, to reach an integrated commercial and economic coalition between our states,” Sisi said in the beginning of the speech.
He added that the gross domestic product (GDP) of the 26 signed African states is $1.2 trillion, which is 60 percent more than the total GDP of the African continent.
“AFTZ is a main step towards establishing the economic African Union as per the Lagos plan of action 1980, Abuja treaty 1991 and the Africa we want Agenda 2063,” he added.
Sisi stressed that Egypt supports all the African union initiatives and regional projects that aim to develop the main infrastructure of the African continent in the framework of the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) that targets transforming Africa through modern infrastructure.
At the end of the summit, Sisi announced that Egypt will organize investment and trade in the Africa Forum to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh Oct. 29-31. It aims to introduce the commercial and investment opportunities in Africa on the regional and international levels.