By Lebone Rodah Mosima
President Cyril Ramaphosa will participate in the African Union’s 8th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting in Egypt on Sunday as chairperson of the Southern African Development Community, with continental integration, trade and infrastructure on the agenda.
The meeting, to be held in El-Alamein on 4 October, will review progress in implementing the division of labour between the AU, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional Mechanisms (RMs) and member states.
Leaders will also assess implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the role of the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD in advancing regional integration, and efforts to accelerate water and sanitation infrastructure development.
The Presidency said the meeting would bring together Heads of State and Government of the AU Bureau, chairpersons of the RECs and RMs, heads of AU organs and development partners, including the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank.
“The mid-year meeting provides an opportunity for the Chairpersons of Regional Economic Communities to exchange views on the status of continental integration as an important component towards the realisation of the Africa We Want as espoused in Agenda 2063,” the Presidency said.
“The meeting will also assess progress made in the implementation of the Division of Labour between the AU, RECs/Regional Mechanisms (RMs), and Member States.”
The Presidency said the discussions were aimed at ensuring greater synergy and subsidiarity between the AU, regional bodies and member states.
The AU describes the Mid-Year Coordination Meeting as a forum bringing together the continental body, RECs, Regional Mechanisms and member states to coordinate their respective roles in advancing Africa’s integration agenda.
Heads of State and Government are also expected to review AU initiatives aimed at addressing and preventing conflicts across the continent, including efforts to strengthen early-warning mechanisms.
The meeting comes as South Africa seeks to deepen trade and investment ties with Egypt, including through automotive manufacturing and broader industrial cooperation.
South Africa and Egypt on Friday launched the Joint South Africa-Egypt Business Council on the margins of the Alamein-Africa Business Forum.
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition said the council was intended to create practical commercial partnerships between South African and Egyptian companies while using the two countries as gateways into Southern, North and wider African markets.
It identified mining and minerals, automotive and new-energy mobility, agriculture and agro-processing, engineering and infrastructure, renewable energy and green industrial development as priority areas.
The dtic said bilateral trade between South Africa and Egypt increased by 26% from R3.4 billion in 2024 to R4.3 billion in 2025, while South African exports to Egypt rose 21% from R1.3 billion to R1.6 billion over the same period.
South Africa nevertheless recorded a bilateral trade deficit with Egypt between 2021 and 2025, according to the department.
Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau also participated in the Africa Automotive Investment Forum in El-Alamein on Friday, where South Africa promoted itself as a manufacturing and investment base in an emerging continental automotive value chain.
Tau said African countries needed to move from policy ambitions towards bankable projects and integrated production networks under the AfCFTA.
“We must use this forum to move from ambition to implementation,” Tau said in his address.
He said governments, financiers, original equipment manufacturers and suppliers needed to work together to build projects, integrate African companies into regional value chains and expand automotive manufacturing and investment.
The dtic said investment facilitation discussions had also begun in June 2026 around the possibility of a Complete Knocked Down (CKD) automotive investment in South Africa.
The department said such an investment was now considered possible and could result in job creation and economic growth.
Tau’s discussions in Egypt also included proposals for closer automotive cooperation between the Southern African Customs Union and Egypt.
In his address to the automotive forum, Tau said a possible SACU-Egypt automotive pact could support vehicle assembly, component manufacturing, logistics, technology transfer and investment across regional supply chains.
The Presidency said Sunday’s Mid-Year Coordination Meeting would also provide Ramaphosa with an opportunity to hold bilateral engagements with other African leaders.
Egypt is also hosting a summit of the founders of AUDA-NEPAD on 3 October.
Ramaphosa will be accompanied by International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and Tau.
INSIDE POLITICS
