On 6 February, 2023, H.E. Ambassador Ahmed Nehad Abdel-Latif, Director General of the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, African Union (AU) Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, on behalf of the AU Commission (AUC). The MOU aims at strengthening cooperation to build and enhance African capacities in the fields of peace and security, especially in the area of post-conflict reconstruction and development (PCRD). The signing ceremony took place at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, with the participation of H.E. Dr. Mohamed Gad, Ambassador of Egypt to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the AU.

The MOU provides a framework to develop collaboration between the two parties through exchange of experiences and best practices as well as the implementation of joint activities in the fields of peace operations, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction and development. It comes within the broader context of Egypt’s unwavering support to achieving peace and stability in Africa as the Champion of PCRD efforts in the Continent, and bearing in mind that the agreement to establish the African Union Center for Reconstruction and Development (AUC-PCRD) hosted by Egypt in Cairo, was signed on the sidelines of the first edition of the Aswan forum for Sustainable Peace and Development (2019). 
The recently signed MOU envisages boosting cooperation in a number of specific areas including training of African officials participating in peace support operations, in conflict resolution, disarmament demobilization and reintegration (DDR), preventing radicalization and extremism leading to terrorism (PRELT), enhancing the role of women and youth in peacebuilding, as well as climate change and its implications on peace and stability. The signing ceremony witnessed also fruitful discussions on the importance of further reinforcing the partnership between the AU and the Aswan Forum, for which CCCPA acts as the Secretariat, to strengthen interlinkages between peace, security and sustainable development in Africa. 

The MOU signing ceremony coincides with CCCPA’s participation in the preparatory meetings of the AU Network of Think Tanks for Peace (NeTT4Peace) that aims to conduct research related to peace and security in Africa with a view towards better informing discussions within the framework of the AU as regards the myriad of cascading risks the African continent is grappling with, on top of which comes terrorism.