Path to the summit

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina's conference on reform provides next week's Arab summit with a perfect agenda, writes Ibrahim Nafie

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Little over a week is left before the Arab summit in Tunis. The conference is crucial, coming at a time of major developments affecting Arab reform, the Arab-Israeli conflict and relations between the Arabs and other states.

International powers, spearheaded by the US, have already staked out their positions and drafted agendas for the reform of the Arab world and a settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict. This movement has, understandably, provoked consternation among the Arabs. Washington's initiative for the Greater Middle East, in particular, has raised Arab shackles. They were not, after all, consulted over the drafting of this initiative which, if adopted by the G8 conference, will be presented to Arab governments for implementation. It deliberately overlooks the need to resolve the Middle East conflict, on the Palestinian track, in particular, contenting itself with the vague assertion that economic and political development will generate a climate conducive to settlement. The "blueprint" also fails to address the fundamental question of pacing needed in order to balance reform and stability.

President Mubarak has aired reservations on numerous occasions, most recently in his meetings with European officials and the press during his tour of Rome, Paris and Berlin. That his interlocutors were receptive to his views is reflected in the European initiative that will be discussed at the forthcoming EU summit.

In contrast the Arabs do have a viable vision for change, one that integrates reform with the need to stimulate inter-Arab cooperation, resolve regional political dilemmas and strike the delicate balance with security. This vision obtained an Arab consensus during the recent foreign ministers' summit in Cairo, and jelled into its most concrete form in the closing statement of the conference on the reform of the Arab world held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina from 12 to 14 March.

The Alexandria Declaration presents a cohesive and ambitious project that, if applied, will stimulate massive progress in reform. Covering political, economic, social, cultural and educational aspects, the project's most striking trait is its depth of detail.

One of the most heartening parts of the document concerns constitutional and legislative reform. It calls for restructuring government to ensure a clear separation of powers between the executive and legislative authorities, setting maximum terms of office for executive authorities, and the peaceful rotation of authority through periodically held free and fair democratic elections. To stimulate political plurality restrictions should be lifted on forming political parties and guarantees must ensure that all ideological trends and civil forces have free and equal opportunities to present their platforms to the public.

In the realm of civil and human rights, it recommended legislative guarantees for the freedom and autonomy of the media. It called for the immediate release of prisoners of conscience who have not been brought to trial or had sentences issued against them. It further appealed for the abolition of all forms of emergency laws in the Arab world, stating that ordinary laws offer sufficient deterrents.

The declaration treated the range of policy and legislative reforms needed to stimulate sustained economic growth, facilitate the integration of Arab economies and enhance their ability to assimilate into the global economy. It stressed the importance of establishing codes for sound financial management, with particular emphasis on transparency, accountability and the enforcement of judicial rulings. It further cautioned that with five million new job seekers entering the labour market in the Arab world every year the spectre of unemployment can only be offset by achieving a six to seven per cent annual growth rate over the next decade. This demands cohesive policies aimed at increasing foreign and domestic investment and more effectively channelling local and foreign savings. Simultaneously, the declaration underscored the need to engage women more fully in the work force to tackle poverty.

On social and cultural reform the Alexandria declaration emphasised the need to promote the rational exchange of ideas and free scientific inquiry. In addition to encouraging the necessary funding for academic and scientific research centres and empowering the organs of civil society, the document argued that elements of religious extremism found in educational curricula, religious rhetoric and the media be eliminated, alongside other customs and practices that inhibit the fertile interchange of ideas. As the authors of the declaration stated, cultural development forms the basis for any successful reform project.

The Alexandria declaration presents Arab leaders in Tunis at the end with a reform programme that is Arab in spirit and conception. There is little reason why they should not adopt it and then work out the details of phasing it in as circumstances dictate. In so doing, the Arabs will have asserted the importance of both reform programmes originating from within the Arab world and also the urgent need to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. If we expect others to respect these principles we must also do our part. I believe, therefore, that the Tunis summit offers the perfect occasion to issue a new Arab initiative for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.