Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty left for Nairobi on Monday, after leading the Egyptian delegation to the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, for talks aimed at strengthening bilateral relations and political coordination between Egypt and Kenya, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The visit underscores Cairo’s push to expand engagement with key African partners, as Egypt seeks to advance economic diplomacy and reinforce strategic cooperation across the continent.
FM Abdelatty is scheduled to meet senior Kenyan officials to discuss ways to develop cooperation in political, economic, trade, investment, and development fields.
The talks will also cover regional and international issues of mutual concern, with a focus on enhancing coordination in multilateral forums and supporting stability and development efforts in Africa.
Egypt and Kenya maintain longstanding diplomatic ties and cooperate within regional and continental frameworks, including the African Union, as part of broader efforts to promote economic integration and sustainable development across Africa.
Before attending the AU Summit, Abdelatty held two phone calls within a week with Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya’s prime cabinet secretary and cabinet secretary for foreign and diaspora affairs.
During the calls, the two ministers discussed strengthening political coordination and expanding economic, trade, and investment cooperation, particularly in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, energy, construction and information technology.
A key part of the discussions focused on cooperation in the Nile Basin. Abdelatty welcomed recent steps approved by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Council of Ministers to restore inclusivity and consensus, stressing the need to protect the interests of all basin states in line with international law and to reject unilateral actions in the eastern Nile Basin.
Kenya, in turn, expressed support for cooperative, development-focused engagement and African-led dialogue mechanisms.
Speaking on Sunday at a high-level side event titled Ensuring Sustainable Water and Sanitation Services to Achieve the Goals of Africa’s Agenda 2063, held on the sidelines of the AU Summit, Abdelatty welcomed the adoption of the Africa Water Vision and Policy 2063.
He said the framework represents an integrated approach to strengthening sustainable water resource management across the continent.
Noting that Egypt is one of the world’s most water-scarce countries and depends almost entirely on the Nile amid rapid population growth and climate change, Abdelatty said stronger international and regional legal frameworks are vital to ensuring water security, stability and sustainable development in Africa.
The minister highlighted the vision’s principles governing transboundary water resources, long advocated by Egypt, including the obligation of cooperation, prior notification and consent for projects on shared waterways, and the rejection of unilateral measures.
He said the summit’s adoption of the policy makes these principles binding commitments for African states that no country can ignore.
Abdelatty stressed that water must be recognized as a human right rather than an economic commodity, warning against treating shared water resources as unilateral sovereign assets, which he said could deepen inequality and threaten water and food security.
He also underscored the importance of respecting international law, particularly the principles of cooperation, consensus, and the obligation not to cause significant harm.
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