Egypt’s Increased Maritime Access to Its Region

Egypt places increasing importance on its relations with the rest of the African continent. To the historical projection, which exclusively oriented the country’s international policy and diplomacy towards the Middle East and the environment of the Arab nations, it has added a more global and Africanist vision.

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The latest initiative in this regard has recently been announced by the Egyptian government. This involves the creation of two maritime routes that will increase bilateral ties with other commercial areas on the African continent.

The Egyptian government is today studying plans to create these two shipping lines connecting the country to the rest of Africa, and the challenges involved in such a strategy. The scoop came during a media appearance by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, in which he gave details about the project and highlighted the importance that these access routes will have for bilateral development between Egypt and neighboring markets.

These markets include the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). This market is a customs unit madeup of 20 African nations and is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community. COMESA has continued to expand since its founding in 1994.

Since 2008, it has included other regional blocs such as the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community. Egypt has been one of its most important additions.

The seaways would link Egypt’s markets directly or indirectly with Kenya, Sudan, Madagascar, Rwanda and Burundi, among others.

A second seaway would target countries and markets in West and North Africa. Egypt’s links with North African countries have a longer history, so the new seaway would strengthen ties with relevant economies in the region such as Tunisia, Libya and Algeria.

This is the first step in the task of creating both seaways of such important commercial and economic scope. In this sense, the Prime Minister reported that there will be meetings between specialists from those ministries that will assume the task, such as those of Transport, Trade and Industry. The Chamber of Commerce and exporting and financial bodies will also participate.

The exchange between Egypt and the African Union has been accelerating since 2020, an example is that only from January to September 2021, the trade flow increased by 35.7 percent, according to a report by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. 

The total value of imports from African Union countries reached US$1455 million, an increase of 30.2 percent.