AU summit 32: Egypt takes the wheel at the AU

This report analyzes Egypt's 2019 chairmanship of the African Union (AU), highlighting its focus on economic goals and regional repositioning, while noting significant policy gaps regarding governance and the need for Egypt to ratify the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement.

• Egypt's 2019 chairmanship of the African Union (AU) is marked by six priority areas: building bridges among Africa’s people, cooperating with partners, economic and regional integration, economic and social development, institutional and financial reform of the AU, and peace and security.
• Egypt is prioritizing economic development and intra-African trade, with President Sisi stating that Egypt increased its investments in Africa by $1.2 billion in 2018 to reach a total of $10.2 billion. However, the report notes a contradiction in Egypt's push for the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement as the country has not yet ratified it.
• The report identifies a major policy gap in Egypt's priorities: the absence of governance issues, which are described as central to Africa's underdevelopment.
• Egypt's peace and security priorities are linked to its own strategic interests, specifically the goal of establishing the AU Centre for Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development in Cairo and launching the Aswan Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development in Aswan.
• The Egyptian chairmanship faces several continental challenges, including the Libyan crisis, terrorism in the Sahel, protests in Sudan, conflicts in South Sudan and Somalia, climate change, the management of the Nile, border disputes, and the Red Sea crisis.

APA

Atta-Asamoah, A. (2019). AU summit 32: Egypt takes the wheel at the AU. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/au-summit-32-egypt-takes-the-wheel-at-the-au

Chicago

Atta-Asamoah, Andrews. AU summit 32: Egypt takes the wheel at the AU. Institute for Security Studies, 2019. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/au-summit-32-egypt-takes-the-wheel-at-the-au.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Atta-Asamoah |first1=Andrews |title=AU summit 32: Egypt takes the wheel at the AU |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=7 February 2019 |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/au-summit-32-egypt-takes-the-wheel-at-the-au |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{attaasamoah2019summit, author = {Atta-Asamoah, Andrews}, title = {{AU summit 32: Egypt takes the wheel at the AU}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2019}, month = feb, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/au-summit-32-egypt-takes-the-wheel-at-the-au}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }