25 April - 1 May 2002
Issue No.583
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 25 April - 1 May 2002 Issue No.583 |
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The economics of persuasion
The American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt is heading to Washington next week on a political mission, writes Aziza Sami
A 25-member delegation from the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt is heading to Washington on 29 April, on its 21st annual doorknock mission. Coming more than three weeks after Israel's invasion of the West Bank and Gaza, the business delegation's aims this time are predominantly political.
With regional and domestic conditions both fraught with tension, there is a sense in many segments of Egyptian civil society that "there is now, more than ever, the need, through direct contact, to make our voices heard with US officials," says Hamed Fahmy, AmCham board member.
The delegation will meet administration officials, Congress members, US-based political think-tanks, and representatives of multilateral funding agencies the World Bank and the IMF.
AmCham represents some 700 companies with a combined annual turnover of LE90 billion.
The visit comes in the wake of widespread popular calls in Egypt and the Arab world for a boycott of US as well as Israeli products. AmCham has reiterated more than once its view that a boycott of US products in Egypt would harm Egyptian business interests, since most US products in Egypt are sold through US-Egyptian joint-ventures or by franchises held by Egyptian companies. AmCham takes the view that the economic interests of not only the US but also the Arab world and Egypt are being harmed by the heightened conflict in the region, because of damage to investment, tourism and insurance coverage which impacts trade.
As a result, in the US AmCham will argue that the boycott threatens US interests. The message, Fahmy says, "will be that not only the US economic, but the political and even cultural interests in the region will be hurt, unless the US actively pursues its role as peace-maker between [Israel and the Palestinians]."
The AmCham delegation will also emphasise the need for greater "moral parity" in the US's peace effort. US support for Israel's aggression in the occupied territories, it is felt, implies that the rights of the Arab countries are of secondary importance.
US AmCham delegates, who represent US companies working in Egypt, have already expressed concern about how the current climate adversely affects business. They will relay this message directly to the US administration.
Cumulative US investments in Egypt are in the range of $2.3 billion. There is a feeling amongst both Egyptian and US businesses that the region needs to attain greater political stability before foreign direct investment grows substantially.
The challenge facing AmCham as a body negotiating bilateral Egyptian-US interests, equally faces Arab associations at large: how to counter the hegemony of the Jewish lobby inside the US legislative body. Indeed, the AmCham delegation will arrive in Washington in the wake of a major meeting held in the same city, organised by the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a major Jewish lobby organisation. Other lobbying efforts have been equally high-profile. "Former Israeli prime ministers Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak went to Washington even as Israel was invading Jenin," says Fahmy. "They did so because they felt it important to continue to lobby inside the US to cover their military incursion [and project it as] a war on terror." And this was despite the already strong bilateral links between the two countries.
Over the years, AmCham has sustained contacts with members of the US Congress, organising periodic visits to Egypt for them and their staff. The last of these took place just before the Israeli invasion.
An organisation like AmCham can capitalise on its business contacts through the databases it has made on members of Congress, and on the levels of trade with each of the different states, according to Fahmy. AmCham had embarked on a similar "politically- oriented" visit following the 11 September attacks on the US.
"We have tried over the years to develop and fine-tune our message in a business fashion, while at the same time dealing with the broader issues. We in no way over-estimate the impact of visits made once or twice a year, but we feel it is a necessary role. US leaders need to hear directly our view of the Middle East region and its problems, not only from the business community but from all civil sectors," argues Fahmy. He added that US officials should not be hearing "only the voice of Israel" as regards the Middle East.
There is a realisation that this can best be done through more structured contact with the Arab-American groups and lobbies inside the US. The Arab-American community in the US currently numbers around 3.5 million. This is twice as many, for example, as Cubans living in the US. But Cuban-Americans, through skilful lobbying, have been able to affect US policy towards Fidel Castro's Cuba, even after the end of the Cold War. The lesson, it seems, is that it can be done.
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