Another start

Egyptian officials believe President Mubarak's meeting with President Bush at Crawford was a great success, Khaled Dawoud reports from Houston, Texas

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US-EGYPTIAN STATE RELATIONS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH: clockwise from top: President Hosni Mubarak with US President George W Bush; with Rice; with Bush Sr and on the ranch with the president photos: Mohamed Abdel-Fattah

In his one-week visit to the United States, President Hosni Mubarak held extremely important talks with US President George W Bush, senior US officials, prominent American businessmen, leaders of Egyptian, Arab and Jewish- American communities and gave several television and press interviews. Adding to the significance of the visit was the fact that it coincided with the 30th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

However, the key event was Mubarak's meeting on Monday with President Bush at his private ranch in Crawford, Texas, a practice that the US president has reserved for his personal friends and close allies since he took office in 2001. On Tuesday, Mubarak had lunch with former President George Bush at his home.

As expected, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's so-called "disengagement" plan with the Palestinians -- mainly offering withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip and a few small West Bank settlements -- the volatile situation in Iraq, the recent US Greater Middle East Initiative (GMEI) calling for economic and political reforms in the region and bilateral relations, topped the agenda of the talks between the two leaders.

While the details of the US position on Sharon's plan remain unconfirmed, the statements made by Bush and Mubarak in their joint news conference seemed to reflect a common stand: that any Israeli plan to withdraw from the occupied Gaza Strip has to be part of the Roadmap -- presented by the US president last year in concord with the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- and Bush's "vision" calling for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel.

However, observers noted that while Bush's vision, which he announced in June 2002, called for the establishment of the Palestinian state by 2005, the most that is now hoped for is Israeli withdrawal from Gaza to start by early next year. No new date was set by the US leader for the establishment of the independent Palestinian state. With Sharon facing domestic problems over corruption scandals and an unstable ruling coalition, and with US presidential elections in November, many observers fear that the latest Israeli plan could simply collapse like several other previous US, Israeli and Arab proposals.

"We discussed the rumours of such a withdrawal (from Gaza)," Bush said in his joint news conference with Mubarak, adding, "and we discussed it in the context of the two-state solution and the roadmap. In other words, we both are in agreement that if Israel makes the decision to withdraw, it doesn't replace the roadmap, it is part of the roadmap, so that we can continue progress towards the two-state solution."

Speaking two days ahead of Sharon's visit to Washington, Bush said he preferred to withhold any final opinion on the Gaza plan until his meeting with the Israeli premier which was scheduled to take place yesterday. "Let's wait until the prime minister comes. But if he were to decide to withdraw from Gaza, it would be a positive development."

Mubarak seemed to agree: "I think that any withdrawal from occupied territory is very highly appreciated. But I would like the withdrawal to coincide with the roadmap, which is very important, because withdrawing from Gaza alone, without connecting it to the roadmap, we never know whether it will be Gaza alone. That will be very difficult. It will not be appreciated by public opinion in the area."

However, Mubarak urged an immediate solution to the Palestinian problem, saying that the longer it remains unresolved, the more complicated it gets. While thanking President Bush for being the first US president ever to publicly call for the creation of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel, Mubarak also expressed readiness to offer help to the Palestinian Authority (PA) by training Palestinian police and rebuilding their security bodies that were destroyed by Israel. More important, the Egyptian leader announced that Cairo was ready to host yet another dialogue session among major Palestinian factions in order to reach agreement on a political programme that would allow for the resumption of peace talks with Israel.

Egyptian officials who took part in the meeting between Mubarak and Bush noted another important point of agreement between the two sides: that any future deal has to involve the PA and not just Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, which runs contrary to Sharon's wishes to totally exclude the PA. Palestinian Minister of Finance Salam Fayad held important talks with US officials in Washington last week, and Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath was due to arrive in the US capital today for similar talks. Meanwhile, King Abdullah of Jordan is scheduled to hold talks with Bush on 21 April at the White House.

In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said that diplomatic efforts during April will be focussed on reviving the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, although he downplayed the chances of a major announcement or a concrete plan following such intensive discussions between Bush and key players in the region. Armitage said the maximum he was looking for was to reach "a common view of the situation" among concerned parties over Sharon's proposals by the end of this month. In a news conference Bush held on Tuesday, he announced that he would soon be sending Armitage to the region for further discussions with its leaders on Iraq and the Middle East peace process.

On Iraq, Mubarak said in his introductory remarks that he conveyed to Bush "our serious concerns about the current state of affairs, particularly in the security and humanitarian areas. I further stressed the importance of restoring Iraq's sovereignty as soon as possible within a context that preserves its territorial integrity and unites all Iraqis towards a common future." Egyptian sources said Mubarak also asked the US president to accept the expansion of the UN role in Iraq, mainly to allow other countries to take part in the reconstruction effort and attempts to restore security, without being seen as supportive of the US occupation.

Bush, meanwhile, reiterated that he remained committed to transfer sovereignty to an Iraqi government by 30 June, though most observers believe such a date would involve more than a ceremonial event that would allow the US president to claim that progress is being made in Iraq during a vital election year.

Bush added that he also welcomed a bigger role for the United Nations, pointing to the fact that Lakhdar Labrahimi, representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, was now in Baghdad to work out a plan to transfer sovereignty to the Iraqis.

In his news conference on Tuesday, Bush also announced that he would be seeking a new Security Council resolution ahead of the 30 June deadline that would determine the UN's role, and would hopefully encourage more countries to take part. While Bush conceded that the last week was "tough", he claimed that "the situation in Iraq has improved." He added that those who have been carrying out attacks against US troops in Iraq are a "small percentage of the Iraqi people" who should not be allowed to decide the fate of the rest of the country.

Concerning the US-proposed GMEI, Egyptian officials told the Weekly that they believe Washington has moved closer to the Egyptian position. The GMEI was negatively received in most Arab countries, as it was perceived as a US prescription that would be imposed on all Arab countries regardless of their different circumstances, and the varying degrees of progress they achieved in political and economic reform.

In his introductory remarks during the joint news conference with Mubarak, Bush said that "just as Egypt has shown the way towards peace in the Middle East, it will set the standard in the region for democracy by strengthening democratic institutions and political participation." Bush added that he was "encouraged by the ongoing debate on reform in Egypt, including the excellent discussions involving civil society representatives from the Arab world who met at the Alexandria Library in March."

In his interview with the Weekly, Armitage conceded for the first time that "we probably got off on the wrong foot (on the GMEI), because many in the Arab world were left with the impression that the GMEI was some sort of thing to imposed from the top down, and not taking into account such things as unique culture, nationalistic attributes, and that there are 22 or so different countries that are involved." He added, "We tried to correct that, my colleague Marc Grossman went out to the region, and he did something that is very hard for the Americans, almost unprecedented; he listened. We are trying to shape this GMEI in a way that it adds to the reform efforts that are going on in the region. It doesn't replace them, it doesn't take them over, and it doesn't impose on them."

Although political issues dominated the talks between the two presidents, strengthening bilateral economic ties also drew some attention. In a speech to leading US businessmen on Tuesday, Mubarak said that the Egyptian economy has been going through an important transformation, "one that we invite you to be part of". He noted that US investments in Egypt exceed $3 billion and that they continued to grow every year.

Mubarak reviewed the significant reforms that the Egyptian economy went through in recent years, particularly the floating of the Egyptian pound. While conceding that this measure has "put substantial strain on our economic institutions," Mubarak said the flotation also resulted in beneficial effects such as making companies more competitive and increasing exports. He added that Egypt has also begun reforming its tariff and customs structures to maximise the impact of the decision to float the pound. The Egyptian leader, meanwhile, stressed the growing and vital role of the private sector in the local economy. "The private sector -- both local and foreign -- has become an indispensable part in policy making in Egypt," Mubarak said.

Economy Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali said he was satisfied with the talks he held with leading US officials, and expressed hope that US investors would increase their presence in Egypt. He also told the Weekly that the two countries concluded negotiations a few weeks ago on granting Egypt $300 million, approved by the US Congress last year to ameliorate the effects of the Iraq war. In the same bill, Egypt was promised $2 billion in loan guarantees. Boutros-Ghali said he expected the US to soon start dispensing the promised grants to Egypt.