July 2, 2009….

Foreign Ministry Ahmed Aboul Gheit stated that the African Union Summit, held in Sirte, Libya to July 3, 2009, discussed one of the most key and urgent issues for the African interests, namely "investing in agriculture", which reflects the African leaders' interests in confronting the Global Food Price Crisis and challenging the difficulties added by the World Financial Crisis to the economies of the African countries. Foreign Minister referred that agriculture sector in Africa is one of the important strategic sectors because of its intensive labor, and relation with bridging the growing food gap in the continent suffering from the least indicators of human development.

Aboul Gheit added that President Mubarak's speech at the AU Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, July 2008, ensured clear basics for the African needs, particularly finding an international dialogue amongst developing and developed countries, regarding the food prices issue and the related issues of organic fuel, in addition to transferring organic technology and compensating Africa for the climate change impacts. During the upcoming summit in Italy, President Mubarak will convey the African urgent needs to the G8 leaders. The high-level Egyptian participation in the Summit shows Egypt's interest in concluding the summit with the best outcomes, as President Mubarak has delegated Prime Minister, Dr. Ahmed Nazif, to represent Egypt at the summit, wherein the delegation also included Ministers of Agriculture and Water Resources.

As for the most eminent African conflicts that prevailed over the African leaders interest, Foreign Minister stated that the accurate balance between achieving peace in Darfur, and questioning the officials on the violations from the other hand, the matter urged the African leaders to renovate their calling upon the international security and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to activate the article 16 in the Treaty of Rome establishing the Court to sustain pursuing the Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir. In addition, the recent aggravations in Somalia had also gained the interest, as the summit called for spreading the UN peacekeeping forces rapidly in Somalia and support the Somali government.

In this context, Foreign Minister pointed out to the wide participation of the Egyptian forces in the peacekeeping operations in Africa, Darfur, Congo Democratic, and Cote d'Ivoire, in addition to Egypt's interest in enhancing international and continental efforts of peacekeeping.

Foreign Minister had also met, on the margin of Sirte Summit, with Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia, Somalia, Senegal, Burundi, and Uganda within the framework of Egypt's consistent interest in Nile basin countries and national security.

Aboul Gheit asserted that the summit importance also comes from the nature of the proposed issues, mainly the issue of founding the AU authority, representing a key step towards achieving the dream of the predecessors' founders of the African Union Organization to establish the United States of Africa. It has been agreed upon giving wide range specializations to the Union Authority in determinate fields of scientific research, environment, combating organized crime, and international trade in order to coordinate the African exertion.

Foreign Minister negated some allegations of rejecting the proposal of founding United States of Africa, stating that divergence of opinions between some African countries is not only about the unity of objective but also about the gradual and time rhythm of applying the needed steps for achieving such unity. Foreign Minister added that President Mubarak's speech delivered by Dr. Ahmed Nazif at the summit undoubtedly outlined Egypt’s support for the immediate commencement of the implementation of the transitional stage of transforming the AU Commission into a continental authority, within a definite time table, seriously and in a balanced manner that enhance the African common work and achieve effectiveness and efficiency of the authority's role and mandates. President Mubarak affirmed in his speech at the Summit that the union authority is based on capabilities and capacities of the AU Commission as well as its determinate mandates as agreed upon; in addition, the authority's success in assuming its duty is the only guarantee for giving mandates that exceed the coordination level in some fields to a more senior level in steering the joint African work.

Regarding the best outcomes Egypt got out of the current Sirte Summit, Foreign Minister said that the summit renewed its support for nominating Minister of culture Farouk Hosni for the position of UNESCO Director General, and called upon the African countries to abide by the African decisions in supporting the African candidates for international positions, which bolster Minister of Culture's opportunities to win such international high position. The summit also supported the Egyptian candidatures for the UNESCO Executive Council, the membership at the International Organization for Maritime Navigation, and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).