More than 20 heads of state and government representatives, alongside representatives from the business community and African and international economic institutions, are gathering in Egypt’s New Alamein City this weekend for the inaugural Alamein Africa Forum.

Co-organised by Egypt, Afreximbank and AUDA-NEPAD, the forum will be held biennially, with the aim of becoming the continent’s premier gathering where political power meets entrepreneurial prowess, bridging the established engines of African growth with the new sectors defining its future.

The forum opened on Friday and is set to run until Sunday, with about 1,500 people expected to attend.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said the gathering will serve as a platform to strengthen African trade and investment and develop cross-border partnerships. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty described it as a forum bringing together the “private sector, investment and financial institutions” to strengthen links between companies and markets.

Discussions are expected to focus on investment, infrastructure, trade, critical minerals, digital innovation, health and emerging industries.

On the sidelines of the forum, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is scheduled to co-chair a summit of the founding member states of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) with his Angolan counterpart, João Lourenço, who also serves as Chairperson of the AUDA-NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC).

Other presidents expected in New Alamein include Senegal’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Somalia’s Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Burundi’s Évariste Ndayishimiye, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, Djibouti’s Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, Algeria’s Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan, Kenya’s William Ruto, Nigeria’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Chad’s Mahamat Idriss Déby.