Nardos Bekele-Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of AUDA-NEPAD, put the continent’s frustration bluntly at the inaugural Alamein Africa Forum in New Alamein, Egypt: Africa does not suffer from a shortage of meetings or conferences, but from a shortage of deals, action, implementation and execution. Her warning framed a gathering built around a single question, whether Africa’s long list of ambitions can finally become finished projects, and leaders, financiers and entrepreneurs were asked to stay at the same table until political ambition turns into investment and development outcomes.
The Forum brought together an unusually broad coalition. H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, joined H.E. President Évariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi, Chairperson of the African Union, H.E. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt, Dr George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, and Mr Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, alongside other African leaders, institutions and business leaders. Their shared call was to move Africa from ambition to implementation.
For President Ndayishimiye, the paradox is personal to the continent’s daily reality: Africa is resource-rich yet remains insufficiently transformed. He argued that the priority is to bring governments, investors and businesses together to translate national strategies and Agenda 2063 into concrete, bankable projects. He called for a shift from diplomatic partnerships to economic partnerships, investment partnerships and, ultimately, production partnerships. AfCFTA, he stressed, must become a fully functioning market, supported by trade corridors, integrated border posts, harmonised customs procedures, mutual recognition of standards, cross-border payment systems, trade finance, logistics and regional value chains.
To hold everyone to account, he proposed an African Investment and Implementation Dashboard to track strategic continental projects, investments, financing, responsibilities, timelines and measurable results. His message was simple: every commitment should lead to a project; every project should find financing; every financing should produce results; and every result should contribute to Africa’s integration and prosperity.
President El-Sisi welcomed the leaders, institutions and business representatives to New Alamein, noting that the Forum comes at a time of profound geopolitical and economic change. African countries, he said, must strengthen their capacity to shape their own future, while peace, stability, strong national institutions, respect for sovereignty, good-neighbourly relations and peaceful resolution of conflicts remain essential foundations for investment and development. He highlighted the private sector as a major engine of growth and employment, calling for stronger connections among African businesses, better access to information on opportunities in neighbouring markets, and practical measures to increase intra-African trade. The Forum, he stressed, exists to bridge information gaps, connect investors and businesses, promote cross-border partnerships and accelerate implementation of AfCFTA and Agenda 2063.
Dr Elombi placed the gathering in a longer historical arc. Alamein was once known principally for a major battle of the Second World War; today, Egypt has transformed the same landscape into a place where Africans can gather to discuss and shape their own future. He recalled Egypt’s longstanding support for Afreximbank, including hosting the Bank in Cairo since its establishment, and insisted that African institutions created and owned by Africans must be strengthened and defended. Afreximbank, created by African countries in 1993, has responded to major economic shocks including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine crisis and the 2026 Gulf crisis, evidence, he argued, of the value of African-owned financial institutions that can act rapidly when African economies face external shocks. He urged governments to keep capitalising their institutions, honour legal commitments, defend the creditor status provided under their treaties, and judge African institutions on their substance, performance, ownership and demonstrated capacity rather than against methodologies designed for different institutional models. His plea to the room was direct: “This bank is your bank. Please defend it.”
Mr Dangote pressed the case for changing how Africa thinks about growth. The continent accounts for a significant share of the world’s population and holds enormous agricultural, mineral, energy and human resources, yet its share of global manufacturing remains limited. The real questions, he argued, are what Africa is producing, who participates in that growth, how much domestic capability it creates, how many productive jobs it generates and how resilient African economies become. He described AfCFTA not merely as a trade agreement but as continental economic infrastructure: a factory serving 30 million consumers is one investment proposition, while one reaching hundreds of millions of African consumers is another. Fragmentation, he warned, creates an “African scale penalty” that raises production costs and constrains investment, so regulations, standards, payment systems, border procedures and logistics must be harmonised. Energy, he added, must be treated as economic infrastructure powering industrial corridors, agricultural processing zones, mining centres, technology clusters and cities. He highlighted Dangote Group’s Vision 2030 and its commitment to expanding investment across the continent, and left the Forum with a simple appeal: “Africans must work together to develop Africa.”
Youssouf, for his part, underscored that Africa does not lack vision or ambition; what is required is the capacity to translate ambitious plans into well-prepared, financed, implemented and successful projects. The African Union, he said, has brought governments and the private sector to the same table to forge the continent’s future together. The assets are there: vast agricultural potential, strategic minerals essential to the global energy transition, abundant energy resources, a rapidly growing and youthful population, and a continental market anchored by AfCFTA. Yet Africa continues to import food it can produce, medicines it can manufacture and products that could be made from its own raw materials.
Bekele-Thomas pointed to the machinery that could close that gap. She highlighted the scale of Africa’s infrastructure financing needs and the role of private capital, blended finance, project preparation and stronger regional economic integration. AUDA-NEPAD is working to move major projects through preparation and structuring towards financial close, while African development finance institutions can provide capital. She called for a shift from national to regional projects, greater mobilisation of African pension and sovereign wealth funds, harmonised standards and stronger economic corridors. By the time the Forum reconvenes in 2028, she urged, Africa should be able to demonstrate projects that have moved from preparation to investor-ready status and beyond, tangible proof that the Forum delivers.
The common message from Alamein was unmistakable: Africa has the resources, markets, institutions, entrepreneurs, young people and capital to transform its economic future. The challenge is execution, from Agenda 2063 to AfCFTA, from political commitments to bankable projects, from raw materials to value addition, and from fragmented national markets to regional value chains. The inaugural Forum is a call to build that future together. The time for action is now.