Egyptian President advocates dialogue against confrontation

President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Dr George Elombi, has urged African governments to protect and strengthen the financial institutions they own.

He said greater commitment to these institutions was needed to ensure they could support the continent’s economies during periods of crisis.

Elombi, who made the call yesterday at the opening ceremony of the Alamein Africa Forum 2026 in New Alamein, Egypt, stated that there was a need for African leaders to take greater responsibility for the institutions they had created and capitalised on.

Elombi said the issue confronting Afreximbank was bigger than its credit rating, arguing that it was fundamentally about whether Africa would be allowed to own and direct its financial institutions or whether such ownership would exist only on paper.

He said African governments had repeatedly demonstrated their commitment to Afreximbank through actual capital contributions, arguing that this should carry greater weight in assessing the bank’s creditworthiness than callable capital, which, he said, had never been called by major development banks.

He disclosed that Afreximbank’s shareholders’ funds now stand at almost $9 billion, while its net income increased by 30 per cent in the first half of the year.

He pointed out that the bank’s balance sheet was roughly six times its size a decade ago.

Elombi said the strength of the institution had been built through successive capital increases by its African shareholders, noting that almost $300 million of fresh equity was injected into the bank in cash in 2025 alone.

He also pointed out that African shareholders had paid $226 million so far this year, while a further $300 million was expected.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, yesterday urged African leaders meeting in El-Alamein to address cross-border challenges through cooperation and dialogue, as concerns grow that escalating violence could spill across borders and Egypt seeks wider African support in its dispute with Ethiopia over the Nile.

Speaking at the African Union’s mid-year coordination summit in the Mediterranean city, Sisi said cross-border challenges require countries to work together rather than compete.

The remarks came ahead of talks in Egypt involving Ethiopia’s neighbours.

The summit followed a business gathering on Saturday where African leaders called for greater use of the continent’s own capital to finance development and reduce dependence on external funding.