The third edition of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development urged the international community to continue prioritizing the challenges of peace and development in Africa, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.

Africa’s challenges need great attention in light of the successive risks and overlapping crises facing the continent, especially the global food crisis, climate change, repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, and the phenomenon of extremism and terrorism, it added in a statement.

Senior officials from Egypt, Africa, the UN, regional and international financing institutions, as well as representatives from civil society, research centres and the private sector attended the event that was hosted by Cairo on Tuesday and Wednesday, it added.

Talks that took place during the forum contributed to emphasizing the importance of advancing the agenda of cooperation between the African countries in various fields, the ministry said.

This edition of the forum was an important step on the way to the COP27 that will mull issues of climate change, peace and development in accordance with the African priorities, it added.

Efforts to combat terrorism also topped the agenda based on Egypt’s successful model in this field, the statement read.

The participants also mulled the role of women in supporting the resilience of African societies, challenges of peace and development in the Red Sea, partnership between the African Union and the United Nations in peace operations in cooperation with the Global Challenges Forum, links between climate change and security in the Sahel region, and promotion of the culture of peace in Africa, it added.

Source: State Information Service Egypt