CAIRO, Jul 17 (Aswat Masriya) – President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday during the African Union (AU) assembly that Egypt looks forward to the completion of negotiations on the establishment of an African free trade zone.

Sisi is currently at Rwanda’s capital Kigali to attend the 27th AU summit, which kicked off on Sunday.

During the closed session ahead of the opening summit, African leaders discussed a number of issues including the establishment of an African free trade zone, the AU commission election as well as the ongoing negotiations regarding the reform and expansion of the UN Security Council, presidency spokesperson Alaa Youssef said in a statement.

"Egypt looks forward to completion of negotiations on the establishment of an African free trade zone soon," Sisi said according to the statement.

The Egyptian president also said that African countries should build on the success of the 3rd Tripartite Summit of Africa's three major economic committees held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt last year.

In June 2015, Egypt hosted Africa's three major regional economic committees (COMESA-EAC-SADC) during a tripartite summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, where a free trade agreement across all three committees was launched.