New York, United States of America – The Permanent Mission of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United Nations in New York hosted a working breakfast for representatives of permanent missions and UN officials on Tuesday, 25 June 2019.

Egypt’s Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for UN Affairs, Ambassador Ihab Awad, presented a brief background of the “Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development”, launched by H.E. President Abdelfattah el-Sisi upon assuming the Chairmanship of the African Union.

The inaugural meeting of the forum titled “An Agenda for Sustainable Peace, Security and Development in Africa” is scheduled to take place in Aswan, Egypt on 11-12 December 2019.

Ambassador Awad briefed attendees on the organizational and substantial preparation efforts, which will include preparatory workshops that will be organized in the months leading up to the Forum, addressing a number of critical issues, such as conflict prevention, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, women, peace and security, preventing radicalization and extremism leading to terrorism; and forced displacement.

Ambassador Awad underscored the fact that the Forum will provide a platform for various stakeholders to develop context-specific and action-oriented recommendations to advance the implementation of “sustainable development” and “sustaining peace” agendas in Africa. The Forum coincides with ongoing reforms, in both the UN and the AU including “Silencing the Guns”, the “African Peace and Security Architecture Roadmap” and the “2020 Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture”. It is also organized in the lead up to the 20th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325.

Attendees praised Egypt’s active role as the Chairman of the African Union, and stressed the importance of launching an African dialogue that addresses the interlinkages of peace, security and development. They also underlined the importance of focusing on practical steps to translate the sustaining peace and development agendas into action.