El Sisi stresses importance of tech, digitization to Africa’s development: The advancement of technology and digitization in Africa is key to the development of the continent’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said at the High-Level Africa- Europe Forum in Austria yesterday, according to a readout of his speech. African countries have been struggling to compete with the rest of the world despite “significant” improvements in many countries’ economic performance, El Sisi said, pointing to a combination of internal struggles such as instability and terrorism, along with external pressures. Technology could serve as a “golden gateway” to help bring Africa up to speed with the rest of the world, he said, urging the international community to increase its involvement and investments in Africa to spur the continent’s development. El Sisi’s focus on driving growth and infrastructure development in the continent comes as Egypt is set to begin its one-year term chairing the African Union in February.

El Sisi also talked illegal migration with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who expressed his country’s interest in cooperating closely with Egypt on the issue “given that both Egypt and Malta are destinations as well as crossing countries for migrants,” according to an Ittihadiya statement (pdf). The president also discussed Egypt’s economic reforms and mega projects with World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva, Ittihadiya said (pdf). The World Bank had pledged earlier this month USD 1 bn in fresh financing to support the next phase of Egypt’s reform program, which focuses on spurring private sector growth.