A few days after he came to office, Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi said that restoring a proper balance to the country's foreign policy would be among his top priorities. “This cannot be done by substituting one party for another,” Fahmi said at a news conference in July. “Instead, it has to be done through building genuine partnerships with countries like the US, the EU, Russia, China, and India in a way that will open up more options for our foreign policy.” With that end in mind, and with the aim of boosting Egyptian-Russian relations, a diverse popular diplomacy delegation concluded a three-day visit to Russia earlier this week. Raouf Saad, one of the members of the delegation and Egypt's ambassador to Russia from 2002 to 2006, described the visit as “fruitful and positive”. It had been fruitful, he said, in the sense that the delegation had had the chance to explain how the 30 June Revolution was viewed in Egypt, where it is seen as having removed a danger that could have had deleterious effects on Egypt, the Arab region, Russia and perhaps the whole world. It had been positive in the sense that the delegation had received a warm reception from Russian officials, academics and parliamentarians. “Russia showed that, unlike the West, it does not attach itself only to the cosmetic aspects of democracy and ignore the will of the masses who wanted to remove an unpopular president who had failed in his mandate,” Saad said. Another official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that such popular diplomacy could “pave the way for official diplomacy.” The visit could be followed by other visits to other countries by officials as well as by popular diplomacy delegations, he added. The official emphasised that in this way Egypt could create more balanced relations with other world powers and gradually reduce its dependence on the US. Saad said that the visit could soon reap fruit because the Russian minister of foreign affairs was likely to visit Egypt next month, giving a further boost to bilateral relations. However, Saad said that the visit by the head of the Russian intelligence services to Egypt Viackeslav Kondraskou on Monday was not an outcome of the delegation's visit, though it would naturally also help to boost relations. During its visit to Russia, the delegation met top Russian officials, parliamentarians and academics. However, it did not manage to meet with the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was not in Moscow at the time. Saad said that the meetings had achieved various objectives, including promoting relations and increasing cooperation in different fields, especially in science and technology. “Although there were no military experts in the delegation, the military can be one of the fields for cooperation. But this will take more time and effort,” he said. The other important message that the delegation delivered was to stress that Egypt was not dealing with Russia as an alternative to another party, but was seeing it as an important and significant partner in its own right. The visit had not been about resuming relations with Russia, Saad said, since these had never been cut, but was rather about launching a new era of cooperation. The delegation also stressed the importance of cooperation in the fields of culture and art, which was why it had included the actors Ezzat Al-Alaili and Hend Akef, niece of the famous dancer Naima Akef who died some time ago but is still fondly remembered in Russia. The delegation tackled the issue of tourism and explained the security measures that had been taken, especially at the Red Sea sites, to protect tourists visiting Egypt. General Ahmed Abdallah, governor of the Red Sea governorate, was part of the delegation, and discussion focused on the possibility of lifting the warning imposed by the Russian authorities on tourists visiting Egypt. Other members of the delegation included Abdel-Hakim Abdel-Nasser, the son of the former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser who established a special relationship with the former Soviet Union and still has a special status in the hearts of many Russians. It also comprised Mohamed Salmawy, spokesperson of the Committee of Fifty which is currently amending the new constitution, Sameh Ashour, a member of the committee and head of the Nasserist Party, Tharwat Al-Kherbawi, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Gamal Zahran, a political science professor, among others. The last three months have seen unprecedented popular diplomacy efforts to explain to the world what happened in Egypt before, on, and after the 30 June Revolution and to correct misconceptions in the western media. Earlier in October, another delegation, also including Salmawy and lawyer and activist Mona Zul-Faqqar, concluded a visit to London during which it met with members of the British parliament and officials at the foreign office in order to explain the truth of what had happened on 30 June. The meetings were organised by the Egyptian embassy in London. Shortly after the dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in in August, another delegation left for the Swiss capital Geneva to provide the international community with a better understanding of what had been happening in Egypt since 30 June. This delegation included Fouad Riad, an international law professor, Amir Salem, a human rights activist, Mervat Al-Tellawi, former chairperson of the National Council for Women, Salmawy, and judge Tahani Al-Gebali, among others. The delegation met with senior officials at the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Labour Organisation and with various human rights NGOs. Meetings were also organised with the ambassadors of the Arab countries in Geneva. Earlier in August, another popular diplomacy delegation concluded a visit to Brussels, where it met with Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign affairs chief, as well as with other senior officials to explain the political situation in Egypt ahead of the EU foreign ministers meeting in which there were expectations that the ministers could take punitive measures against Egypt. The delegation emphasised the right of Egyptians to build their own state institutions, explaining the anger that had been felt in the country at the European failure to respect their will to build a democratic state and implement the roadmap agreed upon with the interim government. The delegation had included Salmawy, Zul-Faqqar, Saadeddin Ibrahim, the founder of the Ibn Khaldoun Centre for Development Studies, and businessman Naguib Sawiris. Mona Makram Ebeid, a parliamentarian and political science professor, has also visited various places in order to explain developments in Egypt. She concluded a three-day visit to Germany earlier this week, helping to clarify that what had happened in Egypt on 30 June had been a popular revolution that had led to the ouster of the then president. She asked Europeans to understand the aspirations of the 30 million Egyptians who had taken to the streets to call for democracy and social justice. Earlier in October she had visited Canada, the US, and France for the same purpose. Saad was optimistic that recent efforts exerted by Egyptian popular as well as official diplomacy would soon reap fruit. “After the visit to Russia, we felt satisfied. Generally speaking, popular diplomacy can be very successful if it is well prepared and done by competent people. If not, it can be destructive,” he said.
