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Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 March 2000 Issue No. 474 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 March 2000 Issue No. 474
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons An Egyptian perspective
By Nevine KhalilWhen President Hosni Mubarak arrives in the US tomorrow, he will barely have time to catch his breath before beginning an arduous series of meetings. From Monday onwards the president, accompanied by senior political and economic aides, has a full schedule of meetings with administration officials, politicians, businessmen and congressmen, intended both to sound their views on an array of issues and to accentuate the Egyptian perspective.
Traditionally, Mubarak's trips to the US furnish an opportunity to exchange notes with the US administration and leading politicians on a wide range of regional and bilateral questions. And significantly, the current visit comes at a crossroads in the peace process.
Mubarak's summit with President Bill Clinton next Tuesday will come 48 hours after the US president's meeting with Syrian president Hafez Al-Assad in Geneva. Mubarak told the Washington Post on Tuesday that Syria and Israel had pursued, unannounced, indirect peace discussions through "special envoys", as well as US and British good offices after formal negotiations broke down in January. He added that they are now close to an agreement, and if talks are resumed following the Clinton-Assad meeting, then the remaining substantive issues "will not be so complicated". Meanwhile Palestinian-Israeli negotiations were re-launched in Washington on Tuesday, and September is the deadline for the final status talks on the Palestinian track.
Highlighting these important political events, Mubarak, who is also the chairman of the Arab summit, will detail his perspective on the future of the region. Cairo believes that Clinton is determined to resolve the Middle East problem before the end of his term. The US president, during his Indian sub-continent tour this week, asserted that Washington will continue to pursue its objective of pushing forward "a comprehensive peace".
Washington is expected to encourage Cairo to host the upcoming gathering of the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) economic conference later this year, which Cairo made conditional on progress in peace-making.
The US administration is also interested in listening to Egypt's perspective on various regional issues, including Iraq, Libya and Sudan. According to Egyptian officials Egypt's demand for banishing mass destruction weapons from the Middle East, which means Israel's dismantling of its nuclear arsenal, is also included on the summit agenda. This is "not to complicate matters, but in order to achieve stability and security in the region", according to Mubarak's chief political adviser Osama El-Baz.
Former US ambassador to Cairo Robert Pelletreau said that Mubarak's visit will help clarify some of the positions recently taken by Cairo. "There is, for example, no full understanding of Mubarak's visit to Lebanon," Pelletereau said.
Mubarak will dedicate a large part of his time to meetings with US congressmen and business figures. He will spend a whole day on Capitol Hill next Wednesday to nurture relations with key figures in US foreign policy. "President Mubarak has strong ties with members of the US Congress," said Egyptian ambassador to Washington Nabil Fahmi, "and always seizes the opportunity to discuss regional and bilateral issues with lawmakers here."
The Presidents' Council, chaired by Mubarak and US Vice-President Al Gore, will also meet during the visit to review the progress of work since its last meeting in June 1999. While reducing a trade imbalance currently massively in favour of the US is always a pressing issue on the bilateral agenda, technology transfer and Information Technology (IT) will also feature high on this trip's agenda. On Monday Mubarak is scheduled to meet with representatives of top IT companies in Northern Virginia to talk business.
IT is a sector which "is given high priority" by the government at this point. Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said that "a large part" of the talks between the Egyptian and US sides will deal with the issue of technology transfer, "an issue to which Mubarak gives high priority because development is not only achieved through economic reform but also through technological progress," Moussa said.
Mubarak's visit will also be an opportunity for Cairo to make contact with both presidential hopefuls. Gore, during his tenure as vice-president, is well-known to Egyptian officials, while George Bush Jr and his aides will be introduced to Cairo's viewpoints on various issues during meetings with Moussa.
Starting today (Thursday), Moussa will meet with various US officials in preparation for the president's visit. Moussa is scheduled to meet with Bush Jr on Friday and attend the US launching of the US-Egyptian Relations Council.
Some 35 members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt arrived in Washington ahead of the presidential visit to meet with officials and congressional and private sector representatives. Cairo wants to see closer cooperation between the private sectors in both countries to further cement bilateral relations. Since 1983, AmCham's Door Knock missions have worked on promoting Egypt as a profitable destination for direct US investment.
Next Monday evening, a fund-raising function will be held at the Library of Congress, attended by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak as a guest of honour. The event is intended to raise some $400,000 to fund the building of the Biblioteca Alexandrina. The American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt is the main organiser of this event.
It is expected that any new round of the Strategic Dialogue between Egypt and the United States will be postponed because of scheduling problems. A new round was expected to be held before the President's visit, at the ministerial level, but due to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's oversea's commitments it is expected that it will be postponed. Ambassador Fahmi believes that since "some differences in opinion continue between Cairo and Washington, to keep the dialogue going is important". He said that Cairo-Washington ties are "mature enough to allow for the rational management of any differences in opinion".
Additional reporting by Thomas Gorguissian
