Egypt and South Africa Launch Business Council as Cairo Pushes for Deeper Intra-African Investment

Egypt and South Africa have launched a joint business council aimed at converting stronger political ties between two of Africa’s largest economies into private-sector investment, industrial partnerships and expanded trade.

The council was formally launched on 2 October on the sidelines of the inaugural Alamein Africa Forum in New Alamein, Egypt. The forum is co-organised by the Egyptian government, the African Export-Import Bank and the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD and runs from 2 to 4 October.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty identified mining and mineral resources, industry, renewable energy, agriculture and food processing, pharmaceuticals, transport and infrastructure among the priority areas for cooperation, according to Ahram Online.

Connecting Africa’s north and south

The significance of the council extends beyond bilateral trade. Egypt and South Africa sit at opposite ends of major African production, logistics and consumer markets, and both governments are looking for ways to use that position to support wider continental integration.

Among the ideas discussed are mutual logistics zones, regular shipping links and greater use of the Suez Canal and national ports to facilitate trade and investment flows. Those proposals speak directly to one of the practical constraints facing the African Continental Free Trade Area: lowering the cost and complexity of moving goods between African markets.

The two countries have also discussed deeper cooperation in automotive manufacturing. At the Alamein forum, Egypt’s Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Mohamed Farid called for stronger links between industrial capabilities, production zones, logistics corridors, finance and African markets to develop a more integrated continental automotive value chain.

From diplomacy to transactions

The business council creates an institutional channel through which companies and policymakers can identify projects, address commercial obstacles and follow up on investment opportunities. Its effectiveness, however, will depend on whether those discussions produce transactions, new supply chains and measurable increases in bilateral and intra-African commerce.

Both countries are also members of BRICS, while South Africa has joined Afreximbank’s Establishment Agreement. Egyptian officials say those relationships could be used to broaden financing options for joint private-sector projects.

The Alamein Africa Forum itself has been established as a biennial platform focused on investment, infrastructure, trade, critical minerals, digital innovation and emerging industries. Its stated goals include mobilising partnerships, strengthening financing pathways and catalysing intra-African trade.

For the Egypt-South Africa council, the immediate opportunity is therefore clear: use two relatively diversified African economies as anchors for commercial links that cross regions rather than remaining concentrated within them. The longer-term test will be whether institutional cooperation translates into factories, logistics connections, financing and trade flows.

Sources: Ahram Online; Egypt State Information Service; Alamein Africa Forum.