Under the directives of the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to provide 250 training grants to an African cohort of trainees in the field of preventing and combating corruption, the Administrative Control Authority’s Egyptian Anti-Corruption Academy organized a graduation ceremony for a new batch of 36 trainees from 12 African countries as part of the Presidential vision to mobilize African competencies to combat all sorts of corruption.
The program provided training on preventing and combating corruption and raising awareness of its adverse effects that jeopardize sustainable development in Africa. Besides, it tackled developing and implementing anti-corruption strategies; enhancing corruption risk management and relevant international conventions; and conducting corruption and asset recovery investigations.
In his speech during the certificate handover ceremony, Minister Hassan Abdel Shafi Ahmed, Chairman of the Administrative Control Authority, congratulated the trainees on passing the program, adding that these presidential grants are reflective of the Egyptian political leadership’s firm belief in the importance of the historical and strategic multilateral relations with African countries. The Minister reiterated that Egypt remains welcoming to its neighboring African countries to bolster cooperation and ensure a better future for the African people.
Minister Hassan Abdel Shafi Ahmed lauded the efforts of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represented in the Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development (EAPD), in coordinating cooperation between Egypt and Africa in many areas. EAPD was launched by the Egyptian President to serve as the official platform for exchanging development experiences with all African countries.
Egypt organized many events centered on combating corruption, namely the first African Anti-Corruption Forum, held in Sharm El-Sheikh after the Egyptian President called for an African knowledge-sharing platform -first of its kind in the African continent- in 2018 during the annual African summit.
In the same vein, Africa actively took part in the ninth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (COSP9), which was convened in Sharm El-Sheikh in December 2021 to promote joint efforts and address issues of mutual concern.
The Chairman of the ACA concluded by instructing the EACA to keep on holding training courses in cooperation with local, regional, and international anti-corruption bodies in accordance with the Academy's strategy to ensure continuous cooperation with counterpart agencies.
The Deputy Chairman of the South Sudan Anti-Corruption Commission, Dr. Samuel Jock Bany, delivered a speech on behalf of the other trainees, in which he thanked Egypt for its continuous support to the African countries, as well as the Egyptian Anti-Corruption Academy for organizing the training program, which honed their skills through knowledge and experiences. Dr. Jock Bany further urged facilitating more of these programs and courses to build African capacities in the field of preventing and combating corruption, commending Egypt's experience in this field.
This comes in light of Egypt’s vigorous efforts to foster cooperation with African countries through various apparatuses, in the belief that sustainable development is only attainable through concrete collective efforts, especially with the African continent that shares with Egypt development visions due to the geographical proximity, which allows for more effective cooperation on the regional level in various fields.