Dina Ezzat follows President Mubarak east It is now clear that President Hosni Mubarak will not be visiting Washington before the end of the year. Mubarak, whose trips to the US used to be an annual event, has not been to Washington since 2002. Nor is it clear whether he will be accepting the invitation to visit in 2007 extended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Senior aides to Mubarak, who has voiced many criticisms of US policy in Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere in the Middle East, neither confirm nor deny rumours he will visit America in late winter or early spring of next year. They say consultations are ongoing between Mubarak and US President George W Bush through direct telephone calls and other high- level diplomatic channels, and while stressing that Egypt is keen on its "strategic relationship with the US" insist that presidential visits must be decided according to national priorities. Judging by Mubarak's choice of visits during the past few years it is yesterday's allies that appear to be re-emerging as a national priority. Yesterday, Mubarak was expected to arrive back to Cairo after a 10-day visit to Russia, China and Kazakhstan. It is Mubarak's second visit to Russia since 2004. Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Cairo last year. Mubarak's trip to China to take part in the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation -- a mission the foreign minister would usually undertake -- did not go unobserved either by the Chinese hosts of the major Sino-African gathering or by American diplomats. And it is significant that Mubarak should then have continued his tour to take in the Kazakh capital on the eve of the inauguration of what is expected to be a heated parliamentary session. If the hospitality extended to the media covering Mubarak's visits is anything to go by, his hosts certainly reciprocate Egypt's interests in breathing new life into old ties. The fact that Mubarak has visited Russia twice in less than two years, and in between has been sending his foreign and trade ministers to Moscow regularly, is a significant political decision, says Nicolay Tikhomirov, dean of the Russian Diplomatic Academy. Similarly, that Mubarak stayed beyond his participation in the China-Africa summit to hold bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, was seen in Beijing as evidence of Egypt's determination to upgrade its ties with China. They were sentiments repeated at a joint press conference in Astana following Mubarak's talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev. But there is a clear understanding in Moscow, Beijing and Astana that Cairo has no intention of allowing the revival of old ties to come at the expense of its relations with Washington. Given that these three capitals are also pursuing closer relationships with Washington, they will read Egypt's diplomatic warmth for what it really is -- an attempt to throw more balance into Egypt's foreign relations. Since the unilateral signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace deal by former President Anwar El-Sadat, Egypt's attention, say critics, has been unfairly monopolised by the West. Mubarak's attempt to change course on this front during the last 20 years failed to satisfy advocates of closer ties with the East though that may now be changing. "Slowly but surely" is the way one senior Egyptian diplomat qualifies Cairo's efforts to strike a more balanced foreign policy. "We are satisfied with the current level of bilateral relations and we are always very keen to work towards promoting these relations," Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a brief ceremony before his talks with Mubarak at the Kremlin on Thursday. Joint presidential statements issued by Mubarak and Jintao and Nazarbaev also expressed satisfaction at the positive direction of bilateral relations as well as hopes for closer consultations in the future. While there was a clear economic dimension to the tour, the three-leg trip, together with possible future visits to other former allies from the heyday of South-South cooperation, is acknowledged by Egyptian diplomats as a sign of Cairo's keenness to widen its diplomatic reach. Egyptian officials say that Washington's rebuff of Egypt's repeated appeals to begin negotiations towards a free trade agreement have led many to conclude that the US has for too long taken Egypt for granted. Egypt received a cold economic shoulder despite having gone the extra-mile with economic liberalisation measures to pave the way to negotiate an agreement, leaving Egyptian officials, as well as businessmen, keen to explore other options. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly during a reception for Egyptian and Chinese businessmen held in Beijing by Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid on the fringe of the presidential visit, several Egyptian entrepreneurs affirmed that they have all but given up on business with the US. They said there is a growing realisation in the Egyptian business community that while the US remains an important business partner the future is with Africa, Russia, the former Soviet republics, China and India. In Russia and China, President Mubarak also held meetings with leading businessmen with an eye on attracting more trade and investment in Egypt. The talks, says Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieddin, confirmed the extent of opportunities that these countries could offer the Egyptian economy. Meetings were also held on a wide range of other issues of common interest including Egypt's plans to revive its peaceful nuclear programme suspended since 1986. Military cooperation and political coordination over Iraq, Palestine and the Iranian and Syrian files were also on the agenda.
