Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt | Bound to cooperate

		17 - 23 October 2002 Issue No. 608 Home news	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Bound to cooperate
Egypt and the EU seem determined to enhance cooperation between them. Soha Abdelaty reports

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten's postponed tour of the Middle East finally took place this week, beginning with Cairo and moving on to Jordan. Patten's tour focused on means to enhance European-Mediterranean relations, an integral part of which is to promote peace and security in the region.
The topics on the agenda in Cairo therefore ranged from the Egyptian-European Association Agreement and other projects of financial cooperation, to bringing about peace between the Palestinians and Israelis and discussing the possible military attack against Iraq. Patten, who arrived in Egypt on Sunday, met with President Hosni Mubarak the next day, as well as Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and other ministers.
The purpose of his two-day visit to Cairo, according to Patten, was to "underline the great importance which the European Union places on our relationship with Egypt", he said on Sunday. "Our relationship with Egypt is one of the foundation stones for our relationship with the region and for our attempts with Egypt and other partners to create an area of economic and political prosperity and stability around the Mediterranean," he said after meeting with Maher.
Egyptian-European relations entered a new phase in June of last year, after a lengthy negotiations process which culminated in the signing of the Association Agreement in Brussels. The agreement, which promises a free trade area between the two sides, is awaiting Egyptian and European parliamentary ratification. Egyptian industrial products would benefit from complete customs relief in European markets, while agricultural products would only receive a substantial reduction in tariffs. "Egyptian-European relations witnessed a significant boost after the signing of the Association Agreement," Fayza Abul-Naga, minister of state for foreign affairs, said on Monday after meeting with Patten. She also emphasised the prominent role the European bloc plays in enhancing Egyptian economic performance, whether through assistance or foreign direct investment (FDI); the EU is Egypt's largest trading partner and its share of FDI in Egypt amounts to 30 per cent.
For his part, Maher told reporters on Sunday that his discussions with Patten focused on the "new form" that the Egyptian-European relationship will take once the agreement has been ratified, which he said, will be presented to the parliament during its next session. Although the agreement was signed in June 2001, observers note that there has been a delay in its ratification by the Egyptian parliament. Egyptian and European officials are dismissing the idea that there is any significance to the delays, pointing out that it will take considerable time for the European side to ratify the agreement because this requires approval by all 15 European states. Patten on Sunday said that the 15 European parliaments have embarked on the ratification process.
The lengthy road leading to the agreement was fraught with obstacles, and the final destination was not completely satisfactory to all parties, especially Egyptian agricultural exporters who had hoped they would obtain a commitment for the same treatment as the industrial sector.
Other than the agreement, the two sides discussed European assistance to Egypt and other investment and development programmes, including the Industrial Modernisation Programme (IMP) and the MEDA financial assistance programme, which targets Mediterranean countries. The IMP is the largest programme the EU has funded outside of its territories (250 million euros). European officials have complained that although it was signed in 1998, the project's implementation only began this year. European officials are saying it is unlikely that any of the new projects will be this large. As for the MEDA programmes, Egyptian as well as other beneficiaries in the Middle East have repeatedly complained that the money promised to them through this programme has often been delayed due to red tape and bureaucracy procedures at the EU. Referring to these issues, Patten said that the two sides discussed during his visit the "efforts that we've made to speed up delivery of European assistance here in Egypt".
"We want to make sure that our programmes move forward more rapidly, which is why we transferred the management of their headquarters from Brussels to Cairo," Patten added during a press conference with Maher.

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