El-Sisi and Lourenço Lead NEPAD Founders' Summit in Egypt

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt and President João Lourenço of Angola sat side by side this evening in New Alamein, co-chairing a gathering of the countries that created NEPAD a quarter of a century ago. Lourenço, who chairs the AUDA-NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee, joined El-Sisi in leading the Summit of the Founding Member States of the NEPAD Agency. The meeting came one day before the 8th African Union Mid-Year Coordination Meeting, which opens tomorrow in the same coastal city.

For the founding states, the evening carried a milestone quality. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, used his intervention to mark NEPAD’s 25th anniversary, congratulating the successive leadership of its founding Member States for keeping alive its Pan-African development vision over so many years. He traced the agency’s story back to its establishment in 2001 and its later institutional evolution into AUDA-NEPAD, arguing that the reasons it was created have not faded with time. Advancing integrated and sustainable development across Africa, and overcoming the continent’s marginalisation, remain highly relevant goals, he told the assembled leaders.

The Summit gathered Heads of State and representatives of the five founding countries: Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. They were joined by President Évariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi, who serves as Chairperson of the African Union. His presence alongside the founders underscored the agency’s place within the wider continental architecture rather than as a stand-alone initiative.

Much of the discussion centred on what AUDA-NEPAD actually delivers for the continent’s development agenda. Youssouf highlighted the agency’s central role in advancing the implementation of Agenda 2063 across key development sectors, the AU’s long-term blueprint for the continent’s transformation. He also stressed the importance of a clear division of responsibilities, a point that speaks to a practical question for the governments involved: which body does what, and how overlapping mandates can be avoided as Africa’s development institutions work in parallel.

His call was for continued institutional complementarity and coherence in advancing Africa’s development and integration. Framed in human terms, the point is straightforward. When continental institutions coordinate well, the projects they support, from infrastructure to technical programmes, reach communities more predictably. When mandates collide, momentum is lost.

By contrast, the harder question of resources remained open. The Summit closed its session by looking at how to strengthen AUDA-NEPAD’s role in supporting Africa’s development priorities, and at mobilising the financial and technical means required to accelerate transformative projects across the continent, the practical work that turns planning documents into visible change for the people they are meant to serve.

With the 8th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting beginning tomorrow, the founding states leave New Alamein having reaffirmed a vision first set out in 2001. Whether the agency’s next quarter-century delivers faster implementation will depend on the coordination and resources its leaders discussed this evening.