03.10.2026-SENEGAL. In El-Alamein, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye combines African engagement with economic partnerships.

On the first day of his stay in Egypt, the President of the Republic, His Excellency Mr. Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, received three major actors in the Egyptian economy before addressing the Extraordinary Summit of the founding members of AUDA-NEPAD. A few days after the UN General Assembly, the El-Alamein sequence extends a diplomacy that places the Senegalese economy at the heart of every move.

El-Alamein is hosting a meeting of African leaders organized by Egypt with the African Union and Afreximbank. A business forum brings together business leaders and investors around an issue that has become central to the continent, that of trade that Africans can develop among themselves. In this context, the Head of State conducted diplomatic action and the search for economic partnerships throughout the day.

Partners for the Senegalese economy

The President of the Republic devoted his morning to three hearings with leaders whose activities directly affect the needs of the Senegalese economy.

Sir Hussein Sherif Fahmi leads Air Cairo, Egypt’s second largest airline. The company is preparing to resume a direct link between Cairo and Dakar. She said she was ready to accompany Air Senegal in the training of its engineers, mechanics and aircrew, and to open a cargo link for trade between the two countries. The Egyptian leader sees Senegal as a natural hub, whose geographical position opens up to both Africa, Europe and the Americas. This reading joins Senegal’s ambition to become a transport and trade platform for the entire subregion.

Energy occupied the second hearing. Sir Mohamed Ismail Mansour, founder of the Infinity Group, is already present in Senegal with the Taïba Ndiaye wind farm, through Infinity Power, its joint venture with Emir Masdar. He informed the President of the Republic of the group’s willingness to go further, with new wind and solar projects with a capacity of one gigawatt. Such a volume would weigh significantly in national electricity production. It is part of the goal of energy sovereignty which the Head of State has placed among the priorities of the National Agenda for Transformation Senegal 2050, and which mobilizes the country’s gas, sun and wind to serve electricity more accessible to households and businesses.

The third meeting focused on finance. Mr. Mohamed Mahmoud El Etreby President of the National Bank of Egypt, the country’s first banking institution, and the Association of Egyptian Banks. The bank wishes to establish a banking and commercial partnership with Senegal. The establishment of an Egyptian establishment in Dakar would give entrepreneurs in both countries instruments adapted to their transactions and would open up new opportunities for bilateral trade.

From air to finance to energy, these hearings respond to the same direction. The President of the Republic broadens the circle of Senegal’s partners and attracts to the country actors willing to invest in the sectors on which the transformation of its economy depends.

Senegal among the founders

The afternoon gave this approach its continental dimension. Senegal, together with Algeria, South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, is one of the five countries behind the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. NEPAD was born in 2001 from the meeting of two visions, President Abdoulaye Wade’s Omega Plan and the African Renaissance Programme led by Presidents Thabo Mbeki, Olusegun Obasanjo and Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Twenty-five years later, the founding members met in El-Alamein, and the Head of State carried the voice of Senegal in the circle of countries that designed this project.

The President of the Republic paid tribute to the founding fathers, whose vision placed the development of the continent under the responsibility of the Africans themselves. He welcomed the progress made in infrastructure, human capital and intra-African trade, bearing in mind the road ahead, from access to water to employment for young people, in an international environment in which the crises were taking place.

To extend this legacy, he defended an Africa that relies first and foremost on its own assets, including its youth, arable land and natural resources. He called for the acceleration of regional infrastructure, particularly through the Africa Infrastructure Development Programme, as well as for financing commensurate with the continent’s needs, where concessional resources are added to domestic savings mobilization and the commitment of the African private sector. Finally, he hoped that AUDA-NEPAD would become the operational arm of Agenda 2063 of the African Union, in better coordination with the States, the Regional Economic Communities and the African financial institutions.

“Achieving the development of the continent is within our reach,” said the Head of State, on condition that African countries engage together around shared priorities.

The work concluded with the adoption of the Alamein Declaration. The five founding countries pay tribute to the builders of NEPAD and reaffirm their commitment to carry, finance and lead the continent’s development agenda from predictable African funding. The text recognizes the African private sector as a driving force in the implementation of Agenda 2063 and adds to this ambition dated commitments. By February 2027, an investment platform must bring together private capital commitments. A continental facility for small and medium-sized enterprises and value chains is expected by mid-2027, and its impact on youth and women’s employment will be measured. An African risk reduction and mixed funding instrument must be developed within 18 months. The use of African resources and the role of the private sector in financing development, which the President of the Republic had defended at the rostrum, were thus at the heart of the joint commitments.

From Washington to El-Alamein, the same line

The words before his peers extend that of the morning hearings. The development of local resources and the involvement of the private sector in financing for development, which the President of the Republic defends for Africa, are at the heart of the National Agenda for Transformation Senegal 2050, which he implements in his country.

This consistency goes through the movements of recent weeks. In Washington and Abu Dhabi, and then in New York, the Head of State strengthened the confidence of Senegal’s partners and presented the country’s opportunities. In El-Alamein, he continued his work with African and Arab partners, making each diplomatic meeting an opportunity to serve the national economy.

The President of the Republic will take part tomorrow in the 8th biannual coordination meeting of the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities, in his capacity as current President of ECOWAS.