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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 March 1999 Issue No. 419 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 March 1999 Issue No. 419
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Regional reach
By Dina EzzatEgypt hopes to secure, towards the end of this month, the status of dialogue-partner in the Indian Ocean Ramp (IOR) -- a grouping of countries overlooking the Indian Ocean. This status is likely to be approved at a meeting of IOR foreign ministers, which will take place in Mozambique.
"As a result, Egypt will be entitled to all the trade benefits that the organisation offers to its member states," said Nagi El-Ghatrifi, assistant to the foreign minister for Asian affairs. Through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, Egypt could expect attractive trade opportunities and navigation links with the IOR. In addition, by fostering common economic interests, Egypt hopes to achieve greater political coordination with IOR members, including such influential states as India.
Egypt's growing interest in joining sub-regional groupings can hardly be mistaken. The rationale behind this policy is not only the keenness to open new markets for Egyptian products, but there is also the aim of having as great a political say as possible in the new economic and political frameworks that are being set for international relations.
"Egypt's participation in several groupings is only consistent with the special and distinguished nature of Egypt's political position that is not necessarily matched by similar economic clout," said Osama El-Ghazali Harb, a leading political analyst.
This week, Egypt came to grips with both South-South and South-North agendas on economic and political cooperation by taking part in meetings of the Developing-8 -- an economic grouping that is an offshoot of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference -- and the Euro-Mediterranean Forum, that brings together some of the affluent and not-so-affluent countries overlooking the Mediterranean.
Foreign Minister Amr Moussa returned to Cairo yesterday after heading Egypt's delegation to the second D-8 summit that took place in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Besides Egypt and Bangladesh, the D-8 includes Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. The grouping was launched by the erstwhile Islamic government in Ankara to foster ties with the Islamic world. Nigeria's very low representation at the Dhaka summit by a lone diplomat raised questions regarding the future of its membership.
Since its establishment in 1997, the D-8 has hardly done anything to boost cooperation among member states that are scattered across the area from West Africa to East Asia. And yet, Egypt is not willing to give up on the group. One reason is the group's economic potential: the D-8 collectively possess some very rich natural resources, including 12 per cent of global oil reserves and 21 per cent of gas reserves. Moreover, the group could serve as another forum for voicing the South's concerns about the increasingly worrying economic disadvantages of globalisation and its legitimate right to a fair and serious dialogue with the North on a more equitable share of the globalisation's gains.
One good opportunity for Egypt to engage in such a North-South dialogue is the annual meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Forum -- originally Egypt's brainchild. Foreign Minister Moussa will arrive in Malta today to head Egypt's delegation to the forum's sixth meeting. Throughout two days of informal discussions, the foreign ministers of Egypt, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Malta are expected to come up with ideas, but not resolutions, on ways of improving cooperation among the Forum's 11 member states.
