Watch Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi deliver his special address at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos, sharing perspectives on global cooperation, economic reform and regional stability.
At the 2026 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi framed today’s agenda as a twin test: navigating “monumental challenges” in geopolitics while accelerating economic modernization through private-sector-led growth. He argued that sustainable peace and development require renewed commitment to “international dialogue and cooperation,” respect for international law, peaceful dispute settlement, poverty reduction, and stronger business institutions with an enabled private sector.
On Gaza, El-Sisi positioned the Palestinian issue as “the essence of the regional stability,” praising U.S. efforts to end the war and urging durability of the ceasefire, uninterrupted humanitarian flows, and faster reconstruction. Egypt, he said, will continue pushing a “just, comprehensive and permanent solution” based on a two-state outcome and “an independent Palestinian state on the lines of the 4th of July 1967, with East Jerusalem.”
Economically, he highlighted reforms to monetary and fiscal policy, investment legislation, and a “state exit” plan to expand private participation, citing improved growth and external validation from institutions such as the IMF. He emphasized investor opportunity in renewables, automotive, pharmaceuticals, logistics, ICT, and AI—backed by upgraded infrastructure and the Suez Canal Economic Zone. “The investor who chooses to work in Egypt,” he said, gains both a large domestic market and access to broader FTA-linked regions.
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Mr. President, dear friends, it's really a great honor to welcome you back to our annual meeting. Mr. president, at a defining moment for the global community. It's ten years since you were here last time. And as we just spoke about in the speaker's room, a lot has changed in a decade. Mr. president, under your leadership, Egypt has remained an anchor of peace and security in a deeply turbulent region. Egypt has played a critical role in supporting efforts towards the ceasefire in Gaza, including through the Sharm el-Sheikh peace declaration, and has consistently advocated dialogue and political solutions for the whole Africa. At the same time, Egypt is consolidating its position as a globally relevant economic and investment topic, with a population exceeding 110 million and a strategic location linking Europe, Asia and Africa, Egypt occupies really a unique place in the global economy. It also, of course, because of its rich heritage, represents a unique place in the world. Your ambitious reform agenda, Mr. President, centered on private sector led growth and the objective of achieving its highest contribution to the GDP by 2030, sends a strong signal to investors and partners alike. This agenda, underpinned by a positive growth outlook that outperforms many regional peers, is also a testimony to the reforms undertaken in support of this. We are particularly at the World Economic Forum. Pleased to also then announce, in collaboration with His Excellency, that we will convene under your patronage, a business focused country strategy meeting in Egypt in the autumn of 2026. So we do expect to see all of you in Cairo, in the fall. Mr. president, your participation today reflects Egypt's dual role as a guarantor of regional stability and rising economic force. We very much looking forward to your speech and for a dialogue, Mr. President. Welcome.
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
In the name of Allah, the most gracious Mr. Brand, chairman and CEO of WIF. Ladies and gentlemen, as I begin, I'd like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Mr. Brand for his generous invitation to join the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. This outstanding gathering offers a precious opportunity to address international issues and current challenges. While geared to achieve our common goal, that is to build a more prosperous and just future for everyone. Our world today faces monumental challenges under development path. It witnesses profound transformations in the patterns of international cooperation. In addition to a rising role of innovative tools of technological progress, digital transformation and AI applications. This matter requires us all to consolidate efforts and promote cooperation and joint action to enable ourselves to cope with those challenges and seize the opportunities for the good and mutual mutual benefit of our nations. As we believe in the importance of cooperation, Egypt continues to build solid regional and international partnerships to ensure mutual benefit and sustainable development. Egypt is also invested in creating a private sector conducive environment, being an essential partner on the road to development, progress and prosperity. However, such efforts face unprecedented challenges both regionally and internationally, given the escalating geopolitical tensions and violations of international legitimacy by some parties. The matter that undermines the endeavors of the economic growth weakens the efforts to preserve international peace and security, and limits the joint action between countries. Therefore, Egypt stresses that the only way to achieve peace, stability and development in a sustainable fashion requires the following first, international dialogue and cooperation should be adhered to. The principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence should be upheld, and the international law on the UN charter should be respected. Second, disputes should be settled peacefully, escalations should be averted, and the environment for durable solutions of various crises should be created. Third, interstate integration should be sought. Eradicating poverty and hunger should be a priority, and shared prosperity among countries should be achieved. Fourth. National, regional and world business institutions should be enhanced. The private sector should be enabled to carry out a key role in achieving inclusive.
That was said.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Palestinian issue is still at the forefront of the Middle East area. Forms the essence of the regional stability and the main anchor of just and comprehensive peace. Along these lines, I would like to express my appreciation of President Donald Trump's efforts and commitment to stop the war in Gaza and his sincere endeavors to alleviate the human sufferings of the brotherly Palestinian people. For over two years now.
Sharm el-Sheikh.
Sharm el-Sheikh conference on October 1325 was the crowning of Egypt's efforts, in coordination with the partners, to bring a ceasefire, enshrine peace, open new horizons of hope and regional stability, and and launch a serious political path to a just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue with the Palestinian legitimate rights are ensured, and security and prosperity in the entire region can be promoted accordingly. I emphasize the necessity to build on Sharm el-Sheikh summit. The ceasefire should endure. The flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza should not be interrupted. While the process of early recovery and reconstruction of the strip should be accelerated. I also welcome the United States announcement of the beginning of phase two of the ceasefire agreement.
This is.
A key. step toward the implementation of the peace plan and the de-escalation in the region. Thus, chances of stability are even bigger. And I would like.
To re-emphasize that Egypt.
Out of its historical role in supporting the Palestinian cause, will spare no pains to continue engaging with all parties concerned to reach a.
Just.
Comprehensive and permanent.
Solution as the Palestinian issue.
Based on the two state solution and the international legitimacy resolutions that. provide the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the lines of the 4th of July 1967, with East Jerusalem as its distinguished audience. Despite multiple regional and international crises, Egypt continues its ambitious economic forum for reform with an integrated package of actions to control financial and monetary policies, restore the investors confidence in the Egyptian market, upgrade the investment legislative environment, and provide attractive incentives to investors. Egypt has given a special priority to strengthen the private sector as a major, indispensable partner in economic growth and development. Set a cap for the government, and launched a thorough plan for the state exit from certain public investments, giving the private sector more room to enlarge its contribution to the economy. The dividends of such efforts are a remarkable improvement in economic performance, indexes, high rates of growth and increase in private investment flow abroad. Commendation of the world finance institutions, notably the IMF, in addition to a better credit rating by world Credit rating Institution. I assure you Egypt will continue the process of economic reform and advance its development trajectory, along with implementing the state Owned Enterprises Account, which will the work of government state company. It is carrying out the monetization program and state exit in order to broaden the participation of the private sector and multiply its contribution to. Egyptian market. Investment opportunities. In the meantime, the government is keen to offer necessary incentives. Especially on new and renewable automotive industry, including pharmaceuticals, logistics, ITC and an AI application. From the well resourced Infrastructure. Egypt. Established in the year on highways, communications, transport, logistics, free zones, particularly the economic zone of the Suez Canal, which stands as strategic platform for trade and investments. I assure you that the investor who chooses to work in Egypt will not only benefit from the promising local market, but will open up to broader markets linked with Egypt by FTAs and both the Arab and world, consisting huge markets, are readily accessible, and the chances of international expansion are. The pillars of security. And. Advanced development. Egypt stronger cooperation with. I'm also pleased to welcome to a session during the and I look forward to keep. The. I wish you all the best with the rest of the activities. Thank you.
Mr. President. Thank you so much for your speech. And my interpretation is that geopolitics, are challenging, but, economy is, going a lot better than, the geopolitics. But if you look at the region of Middle East and North Africa, the Mena region, who do you interpret from the Egyptian side what is now unfolding? And how do you think we can move? More, decisive, towards peace and reconciliation moving forward?
I.
Thank you very much for this question. The measures that have been taken in Egypt, whether on the geopolitical level, which I mentioned during my speech, Egypt has tried not only in the last few years, in under what is happening in the Gaza Strip, but for the last ten years when we were in charge, I was personally in charge of the state of Egypt. We always wanted Egypt to be pivotal, stabilizing force in the region that suffers from, some, shocks in the last few years. And we have never forgotten our role because we have to be pivotal. We have to work very hard to be a stabilizing force in the region, so that our country is ready to be a launching pad for sustainable development goals that we have set for our countries until 2030. In my speech, I have said that we have taken measures that aim at attracting and incentivizing private sector and to better our infrastructure in Egypt. And this is, absolutely necessary to have proper investment, proper infrastructure, to attract the investment. The infrastructure, per se is in itself a stabilizing factor in because businessmen, institutions are, inclined to come to Egypt to contribute. Egypt has got a policy based on boosting stabilization in the region, not only within Egypt, but even in the regional and international environment as well. We have always had a positive contribution, not only to keep or serve its own interests, but our overall goal is to re to provide stability in the region, because the region has been prone to conflict in the last ten years, Egypt have always had a positive role in the stability in the region as a whole. And once again, that in October 2025, through the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, we have dealt with very thorny issues, especially the war in Gaza that lasted about two years. And we are hopeful that our positive role will be, pivotal in the in crystallizing the phase two of the peace process in the region. Once again, talking about the different points. Regarding a proper environment, investment atmosphere in Egypt. So, what I would like to respond is by saying that we have done a lot of things, but we still have a lot to do in Egypt in order to have a proper incentivizing atmosphere to attract foreign investments. We have no not a single stone unturned in order to make all these projects, up and running. We have, connected the port from the Red sea, the Mediterranean Sea. We have a proper road network, rail networks as well, advanced and well developed. And this applies to the airports, to the energy sector. What I would like to say, even in education sector, which is part and parcel of the overall reform of our, country, and we have boosted the infrastructure for the universities in Egypt, so that to make sure we have graduates that are fit to take the positions open in the labor market, and the same efforts have been extended in the legislative, in the reform agenda. And we are in contact with the IMF. And the last review with the IMF, which was held last month, reiterated the fact that we are on the right track. We as Egypt and and the growth rate, that we are looking at is to make sure, in the first quarter was 5.10% and this is an opportunity for the Egyptian government to continue striving and to make and to have better, reforms. Once again, I may have spoken a little too much in response to your question, but I wanted to have an overall picture to make sure that the environment, the business environment, is very attractive. We have the free trade agreement that have been signed with Africa, with the Arab region. And we also have free economic zones, in addition to the development underway in the Canal Zone so that we make the the movement smoother in these different waterways. Now, if you want to have if you have projects in, hydrogen, in logistics, in communication, in data centers, in pharmaceuticals, and even in education and health, we are ready. We are full, fully ready to contribute in making this, this, this investment a success.
Thank you so much. Mr. President, I think this gave like a very an excellent overview, of the region, but also, the reforms. We have a few minutes left, so I would like to touch on two things. Let me start with maybe, the easiest it is how Egypt is now, also, with the reforms you mentioned, adjusting to the new economic reality, because since last time you were here a decade ago, no one spoke about artificial intelligence. There were almost no electrical vehicles. Things are changing very much. And the growth in the years to come will be strongest in digital trade and in these new technologies. And how how do you prepare Egypt, for that? I think you already touched on some of the reforms there that will will apply. But just to like also focus with such a young population. I guess you also have a big opportunities because these this young generation is very tech savvy.
So.
It's very, very true. We have had an overarching, program plan to make sure the state is ready, not only to attract, investors, but also to be ready to, to overcome any upcoming, any forthcoming challenges. You have mentioned the electric vehicles, and there are other sectors on which we can dwell on. We have said, that we are ready as a state to make the utmost effort in order to make sure we have the capabilities so that we incentivize the investors in these specific sectors that are going to be supported by the state. We need to make sure we are the engine for growth in these sectors. And, with regard to the electric, electric, electric power, that is absolutely necessary. But also education is pivotal. As I said, I spoke about universities, about the different, sectors like digitalization, AI that are part and parcel of the new of the preparation of the young generation at university. And we have more than 30 million young people in education. We have, we have 4.5 million at university, and we have a huge opportunity, because we need to make sure that our capital, human capital, is ready to meet the challenges by providing graduates that are, knowledgeable, able to meet the new tech technology, new tech era. So we need to have youth that are capable, fully fitted with the skills. Egypt is a promising market. And we are eager to make better efforts so that we make headway in all sectors, in all the different sectors to have been mentioning.
So maybe then, the last question I see we have a few minutes left is about the region, the Middle East region. And as you underlined, I think we all know that Egypt is an anchor. It is between Europe, Africa and Asia. If you look at the regional developments, the last year, I guess there has been, developments in, in Lebanon and Syria, that have been moving, in a new direction. You have the situation in Sudan and Yemen that I guess will be on the problematic side. So, and Libya, I don't know. I don't want to characterize. I leave that to you, Mr. President, to find the right words. But if you look at the overall, do you think this is going to be, a calmer, year, or are we still going to have the challenges? And tomorrow, as you know, President Trump is also launching the Board of Peace here. So even in Davos, there will be some, some developments.
If I may. As I said in the introduction, I spoke on different topics. Indeed. Because I wanted to have to give a broader overview of the region in the last ten years, the Egyptian policy has been stable and always in continuation of what we have always done. We have always believed in the non-interference of the domestic affairs of other states. We also support any region. Especially when we call on the, to, to to resort to the international institutions for, for dispute settlement. And therefore, for example, if there are militias or factions that are rampant in some countries and that have a negative impact, and therefore I don't want to name countries per se, because I don't want to raise issues with states, but, I mean, they know themselves. I mean, I don't want to go into qualifying, in I mean, if we look at Lebanon, for example, Lebanon is on the right path, new and right path. And I really hope that Lebanon, in the coming weeks and days, will find the way out and to stabilize the region and to grow the region and to have a friendly government with whom we have always had excellent relationship, because it has been the lighthouse of education of of in the region, in Syria, there are developments indeed. And, we're hopeful that the, trend will be, encompassing and all inclusive in, in for all the components that make up Syria. They should all be represented in the government and there should be no exclusion of any component in the newly established state of Syria. And therefore, we call upon all the friends in Sudan, in Somalia, in Libya, in Yemen, we call upon them to work on stability and to make sure there is none interfere. The principle of non-interference of domestic affairs should be highlighted. The aim for Egypt and the aim that since 2014, we are working upon, is to make sure that the statehood comes back to Libya, to Sudan, to Somalia, to Syria, so that an all abled state government should be encompassing and should be a stabilizing force in all these countries that I have just mentioned. And we are still working on being positive, constructive, have a constructive role as Egyptians. And the last two years were Gaza, had that war, witnessed that, war we have had we always have the Suez Canal, which is a major waterway. This waterway has been affected very, very hard by the war of in Gaza. And and therefore we as Egypt, we're paying the price. We have lost billions of dollars because of the impact of the war on the on the major waterway, which is the canal, the Suez Canal. For the last two years, up until the end of the war and the and therefore we have been somehow very positive in de-escalation and in softening the tone. This is what happened for Gaza. We have had a very positive role because we wanted to quell the war, to put an end to the war and to shorten the war. We have always urged for humanitarian aid to achieve to the recipients. And, and therefore our policy is a positive policy, sticking to stabilization in the in our country, in the region and in the world.
Thank you. Thank you so much for, your strong speech and excellent answers. I hope there will be not ten years before we can wish you back to Davos. Mr. President, things have changed. But as the president said when we spoke, not know better. So thank you again. And big applause to President Sisi.