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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 June 1999 Issue No. 434 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 June 1999 Issue No. 434
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Living Travel Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Keeping Egypt-US ties 'healthy'
By Dina EzzatWhen Foreign Minister Amr Moussa arrives in the United States on Sunday morning, two items will be uppermost on his agenda. The first is the promotion of the Egyptian economy in a bid to attract greater US investors, who remain largely reluctant. The second is the clarification of Egypt's political position, which is likely to be in conflict with some aspects of future US regional policy.
Moussa's efforts are in preparation for President Hosni Mubarak's US visit later this month. Mubarak will fly to Washington on 26 June and is to meet with US President Bill Clinton on 1 July.
Touring Chicago, Detroit and New York before flying to Washington to team up with Mubarak, Moussa will confer with members of the US business community, Arab Americans, the Jewish lobby, think-tankers, congressmen, and administration officials. In the US capital, the foreign minister will hold talks with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and, possibly, other senior US officials concerned with the Middle East and Africa.
On the economic front, a high-ranking delegation headed by Economy Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali will be in the US for about two weeks, seeking to encourage more US businessmen to channel investments into Egypt. The climate may not be as receptive as Egypt hopes: in the words of one US official, "Egypt has evolved into a fairly investment-friendly environment, but there is still much red tape that needs to be removed."
The visits are also expected to be successful in political terms, since both Cairo and Washington are keen, to varying degrees and for different reasons, on maintaining a stable relationship, defined as one offering Egypt greater economic opportunities and involvement in closer political coordination with Washington, which will also help avoid a clash of interests -- or a showdown that neither side wants.
Egyptian and US officials may well agree on the need for a speedy breakthrough in stagnant regional peace-making in order to work out a final settlement as soon as possible. Egypt insists that this settlement should also be "just". Officials on both sides, however, are unlikely to elaborate on the already emerging "post-Netanyahu" disagreements regarding the management of the peace process.
"When Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was in power, the Americans were embarrassed by his behaviour, so they showed understanding of the Egyptian position that there is no need to rush efforts in search of any political settlement or regional economic cooperation," an Egyptian source said. "Now, with the election of Ehud Barak, the US believes that the Arabs should encourage him by showing greater flexibility in peace-making and economic cooperation."
The US, as its ambassador to Egypt, Daniel Kurtzer, says, is not yet ready to present the Middle Eastern parties with a new package of ideas to revive the peace process. It is also unlikely to host a peace summit on the fringe of the Mubarak visit, a move suggested by some Palestinian and Israeli sources.
Egypt is sticking to its policy that "whatever makes the Palestinians happy makes us happy; we are not more royal than the king." Still, Egypt refuses to discuss a political agenda that it deems "unrealistic", such as jumping to final-status talks on the Palestinian track before implementing "most, if not all" Israeli interim arrangement commitments; encouraging Lebanon to seek a deal independently from Syria; or "running back" to regional economic cooperation.
Earlier this month, Klaus Schwab, head of the World Economic Forum, was in Cairo for talks with top officials on reviving the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) conference on regional economic cooperation. The conference was cancelled last year as a result of Arab opposition to Netanyahu's policies. "I am personally optimistic that we will have a situation that could allow such a conference to take place in the next 12 months," Schwab told the press.
Also within the next 12 months, the US says it wants a shake-up of the situation in Iraq. Washington does not hide its intention to "arrange" this shake-up, if it so chooses. Cairo is aware that its ability to preempt US plans is limited, but it has informed the US that it will not be able to back a new wave of intensive military strikes against Iraq intended to pave the way for a change of regime.
Nor does Cairo feel comfortable with military moves in the region. US statements about the need to slow down the upgrading of the military capabilities of some Arab countries, at a time when the Israeli nuclear arsenal is, and is likely to remain, a veritable menace, have also caused some tension.
Egypt made its policy quite clear to Gary Hart and Norman Augustin, who were in Cairo a few weeks ago as representatives of a US commission appointed by William Cohen, US secretary of defence, to study US security needs for the next century.
Such disagreements, however, will not take Egypt-US relations off their "healthy course", Egyptian and US officials say. "We have learned how to agree on our disagreements, and this is why we launched the strategic dialogue with the US last year," said an Egyptian diplomat.
