Egypt’s Foreign Policy…Gains & Challenges

The efforts of the Egyptian diplomacy have not stopped in the past years in facing the attempts being made to distort Egypt’s external image and to restore Egypt to its leading position on the international scene; but through serious and effective moves, it has also been able to play its prominent role in all regional and global issues. In this context the CEBC & ECIC organized an event with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. Sameh Shoukry, to discuss the topic “Egypt’s Foreign Policy…Gains & Challenges”.

In the opening remarks, Eng. Motaz Raslan welcomed all members and guests and thanked them for their usual support, then he mentioned that Egypt was surrounded by enormous challenges and many crises as a result of international pressure after the revolution, and in order to overcome all these challenges and crises that Egypt was facing internally and externally, the media platforms were under the political pressure for correcting and redrawing the image of Egypt.

Egypt has succeeded in facing all these challenges by having a vision for the future to draw the right path, set priorities and to begin its serious steps in achieving stability, progress and development. Indeed it has come a long way in that revealed in its strength and stability economically, politically and security; which is reflected in the size of existing national projects, the inflow of foreign investment and improving various indicators of the economy.

Despite these successes and the state of great optimism of the efforts and movements of the Egyptian foreign affairs, however, there are still many and many challenges facing Egypt, like the crises that hit the Arab region such as the instability in Syria, Libya and Yemen, the Palestinian issue, which is worsening day after day and other issues that look forward to finding solutions for the belief that the security of the Arab region is the security of Egypt.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. Sameh Shoukry, affirmed that Egypt offers a unique model in the war on terrorism, pointing out that the fight against terrorism is not limited to the military, but rather through confronting the dark thought by presenting a model of intellectual confrontation based on the initiative of the President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

Considering the Libyan issue, the Minister explained that Egypt is working to preserve the unity and sovereignty of the Libyan state territory, support the Libyan political track and restore the strength of state institutions to provide security for the Libyan people, foremost of which is the Libyan National Army to defeat extremism and terrorism. He pointed out that Libya is a country rich in resources and therefore raise the ambitions of many of its enemies. The minister stressed that Egypt participated in many international initiatives to provide the appropriate climate for reaching a solution for the benefit of the Libyan people.

Regarding Regini case, the minister said that the Egyptian authorities are continuing to search for a solution to this issue by reaching the perpetrators and bringing them to trial. He added that there is close judicial cooperation between Egypt and Italy, and Egypt is dealing with this issue with transparency and interest, surely such issues usually take some time, but there is a determination to come to the truth.

For the Palestinian issue, the Minister affirmed that Egypt is exerting strenuous efforts to protect the Palestinian people and protect Palestinian unity. He stressed that Egypt affirms the interest of the Palestinian people and end the suffering of them, to strengthen the national identity. Egypt was sparing effort to restore the rights of the Palestinian people and to settle the Palestinian issue in a just and equitable manner on the basis of international charters and to support the right of the Palestinian people to establish their State borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Minister pointed out that Egyptian-African relations have been affected in the past decades, however over the past five years, Egypt has regained its influential role in Africa under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He added that Egypt has a great historical record in Africa that must be exploited and has a comparative economic advantage through which it can be implemented in the African markets.

With regard to the reconciliation with Qatar, the Minister affirmed that the Gulf summit will be held in time for the end of December, noting that the situation with Qatar has not changed and the position of the four countries is consistent. He expressed the hope that Qatar would change its hostile policies and distance from all that harms Arab national security.

H.E. Mr. Sameh Shoukry added that there is no terrorist targeting of tourist places in Egypt, thanks to security efforts to protect tourism capabilities, stressing that what happened in Europe of terrorist operations is more than what happened in Egypt, and this indicates that there is no targeting of Egyptian tourism.

H.E. Mr. Sameh Shoukry stressed that the issue of Al Nahda Dam is complex and related to many technical aspects. He pointed out that an agreement was signed on a declaration of principles between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on the Al Nahda Dam project on 23 March 2015. He added that there are some points of disagreement about filling the reservoir led to some stumbling in the negotiations, expressing his aspiration to reach an agreement on the basis of serving the common interest, without any attempt to derive any advantages over the other.

The floor was opened for questions and answers session considering the revival of the civil state project which is based on the principle of national and human rights and non-interference in the affairs of states based on an extended history of civilization and the ability to enrich international politics.