Egypt, Chad Vow Stronger Trade and Security at Africa Summit

Two of Africa’s most strategically positioned leaders sat down together in Nairobi and made a firm promise to each other. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby met on the sidelines of the Africa-France summit and walked away with a shared roadmap covering trade, infrastructure, and regional peace. With the Sahel in crisis and African economies under mounting pressure, the timing could not be more critical.

One Historic Summit, One Crucial Meeting

The Africa Forward Summit 2026, held on May 11 and 12 in Nairobi, Kenya, brought together heads of state and government under the theme “Africa-France Partnerships for Innovation and Growth.” The gathering drew around 4,000 participants, including some 30 heads of state and government, a coalition of prominent French and African CEOs, and nearly 500 young African talents.

For the first time, France and an English-speaking African country co-chaired the event, symbolizing an open and future-focused relationship. That shift in symbolism set the tone for everything that followed inside the halls of Nairobi’s Kenyatta International Convention Centre.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Africa-France summit in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, with discussions focused on enhancing political, economic, commercial, and developmental relations, according to a statement from Egyptian presidential spokesperson Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy.

President Sisi made Egypt’s intentions unmistakably clear: Cairo wants to continuously develop its relationship with N’Djamena to match the long-term prosperity aspirations of both nations. He stressed the necessity to build upon the positive outcomes of the Joint Committee meetings held in Cairo in November 2025.

Roads, Trade, and a Bond Built Over Years

The Egypt-Chad partnership did not happen overnight. It has been carefully built through a series of high-level visits and concrete agreements stretching across the past two years.

President El-Sisi issued clear directives to deepen ties with Chad, reflected in a series of high-level visits, including his December 2024 visit with a business delegation, followed by the February 2025 visit of Egypt’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Transport, accompanied by leading Egyptian investors.

The Egypt-Libya-Chad highway corridor is the most powerful physical proof of this growing relationship. The corridor is divided into three sections: 400 km within Egypt, 390 km across Libya, and 930 km within Chad. Chadian President Deby has described the project as a transformative initiative that will position N’Djamena as a regional commercial hub and expand market access for Chadian goods.

Key areas both countries are actively advancing right now:

• Cross-border trade and bilateral investment deals
• The Egypt-Libya-Chad highway corridor infrastructure project
• Healthcare capacity building and health sector cooperation
• Military training and capacity-building for Chadian security forces
• Road construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation projects inside Chad

President Deby expressed his country’s appreciation for the close relations with Egypt and affirmed his intent to deepen bilateral cooperation, particularly in trade, investment, and infrastructure development. He also commended the ongoing cooperation with Egypt in the healthcare sector. For a landlocked country managing enormous humanitarian pressures, that cooperation means real change for real people.

Security Is No Longer Just a Side Conversation

The Nairobi meeting went well beyond trade figures and project timelines. Both presidents spent serious time on the security threats spreading rapidly across their shared neighborhood.

“There is no development without peace… and no peace without development.”
President Al-Sisi, speaking at the Africa Forward Summit, Nairobi, May 2026

The security crisis in the Sahel has evolved from a localized insurgency into one of the most significant transregional security threats facing Africa. What initially emerged as militant violence concentrated in Mali and neighboring Sahelian states has progressively expanded eastward through fragile border regions, trafficking corridors, and interconnected extremist movements.

Chad is sitting at the center of this storm. Over a million Sudanese refugees have already crossed into Chad, straining the country’s resources and social fabric while arms and mercenary flows accelerate instability in Niger and Mali.

President Sisi stressed the absolute need to preserve the national institutions of countries in the region, calling strong institutions the essential shield against the ongoing threats they face. President Sisi and Chad’s President Deby also discussed ways to settle regional crises through peaceful means, in order to preserve the sovereignty of states in the region and safeguard the resources and well-being of their peoples.

By 2024, France had been expelled from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, retaining only a reduced presence in Chad, which was itself terminated in late 2024 when Chad ordered French forces to leave. When state institutions collapse, armed groups fill the space. The message from Sisi and Deby together is that both Cairo and N’Djamena intend to hold the line through institutional strength, not surrender it.

Egypt Takes a Bigger Stand at the Nairobi Table

The Sisi-Deby bilateral was just one part of Egypt’s busy diplomatic presence at the summit. President Sisi also stepped up to the main stage with a message that resonated well beyond Cairo.

Al-Sisi warned that a large number of African nations now spend more on debt service than on health and education combined, urging an immediate reform of the international financial architecture to break the “vicious cycle of the sovereign debt dilemma.” He also highlighted the necessity of supporting nascent African industries, building the capacity of African youth, and activating the African Continental Free Trade Area by bolstering intra-African supply chains.

The summit was defined by bold financial commitments at the top. Investments worth 23 billion euros, roughly 27 billion dollars, will fund various sectors including energy, AI, and agriculture, with 14 billion euros coming from French companies and 9 billion euros from African entities. These investments would create 250,000 jobs in France and Africa, Macron said at the two-day summit.

Here is a snapshot of the summit’s seven core agenda themes and what they targeted:

Al-Sisi noted that despite regional crises, Egypt has continued its economic reform programme by tightening monetary and fiscal policies and developing its transport and logistics infrastructure to serve as a gateway to the African continent. That is the kind of credibility that gives Egypt real standing at a summit table full of competing voices.

What happened between Sisi and Deby in Nairobi was more than a diplomatic photo opportunity on a crowded summit schedule. It was a statement of shared intent from two neighbors who understand, perhaps better than most, that roads without peace lead nowhere and that peace without development cannot last. The highway under construction, the trade agreements being drawn up, and the frank conversations about security all point toward a version of Africa that holds itself together from within rather than waiting for outside rescue. For the millions of people living across Chad, Egypt, and the fragile nations stretched between them, the promises made in Nairobi now carry a weight that can only be measured in what actually gets built, who gets safer, and whose life improves. What do you think? Does the Egypt-Chad partnership offer Africa a real path to lasting stability? Drop your opinion in the comments below.