A few days after his appointment in July 2013, Nabil Fahmi, the first post-30 June foreign minister, outlined his aims: To present a “correct and proper image” of Egypt to the international community; restore Egypt's role in the Arab world, Africa, the Mediterranean region and the international community; and to develop a comprehensive vision for the future of foreign policy. Fahmi emphasised that Egypt was not looking to replace one country with another, but rather to expand its list of partners and allies. Ever since, Egypt has worked to broaden the base of its regional and international relations. “We are in a world that no longer has one, or two belligerent, poles,” notes Gamal Bayoumi, secretary general of the Union of Arab Investors. “We must extend our relations with countries like Russia, China and the EU without affecting our relations with the US.”
Europe The last quarter of the year witnessed two important visits. In November President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi made a trip to Italy, including the Vatican, and France. During Al-Sisi's visit to France the two states agreed to boost bilateral dialogue on, among other issues, the Palestinian question and the dire need to restore peace and establish a democratic and independent Palestinian state; fighting terrorist organisations that pose a threat to regional and international security; supporting Iraq in its fight against the Islamic State (IS); ending the Syrian issue through a political transition based on the 2012 Geneva Declaration; and promoting dialogue between Libyan parties and a political solution to the Libyan crisis. The visit also boosted military, cultural and economic ties between the two states. Al-Sisi's visit to Rome had a mainly economic focus. Italy is Egypt's top trade partner in the EU. During his visit to the Vatican, Al-Sisi expressed his appreciation of Pope Francis's openness to dialogue with Islam, as well as efforts to combat poverty and defend humanitarian causes. Boosting Euro-Mediterranean cooperation topped the agenda of the Egyptian-French meeting. Cairo and Paris agreed to support the efforts of the secretary general of the Union for the Mediterranean to promote infrastructure projects in fields like renewable energy, investment and youth employment. Three weeks before Al-Sisi's tour of France and Italy, Cairo hosted a tripartite summit that brought together Greece, Cyprus and Egypt. The Cypriot and Greek leaders, whose countries are EU members, said they would act as “ambassadors” for Egypt within the EU. “We started with Greece, Cyprus, then Italy and France. Germany is in the pipeline. When we elect a new parliament, economic relations with these states will thrive,” Bayoumi told Al-Ahram Weekly. Assistant Foreign Minister Rakha Hassan told the Weekly: “We have seen more openness to Mediterranean countries like Greece and Cyprus, followed by Italy and France, and there is more to come.” Beijing, Moscow and other European states, he said, are in the Foreign Ministry's sights. Egypt-US relations US-Egyptian relations have see-sawed since Mohamed Morsi's ouster. In October 2013 US Congress suspended a portion of aid to Egypt pending democratic reforms. In January 2014 Congress made $1.3 billion in military aid conditional on Egypt maintaining its strategic relationship with the US. In June 2014, $572 million of the total was released. The US administration suspended the delivery of ten Apache helicopters to Egypt in October 2013. By the middle of this year US Secretary of State John Kerry informed his Egyptian counterpart that Washington would proceed with the delivery, though the year is ending without the army taking receipt of the aircraft. These ups and downs, Hassan argues, are a hangover from the Bush administration when then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was convinced the Islamic current would win control of the Arab and Islamic world. The US had been in contact with Islamists since 2007. Mohamed Morsi's occupancy of the presidential palace, says Hassan, reinforced this perception in Washington. Though Washington later declared it would deal with any elected Egyptian president it still clung to its belief in the Islamic current. “Islamists do not currently believe in borders between Arab states,” Hassan points out, “and this chimes with US interests.” The US administration is split over how to deal with Egypt. While Kerry and former defence secretary Chuck Hagel argue for greater cooperation, others within the administration want aid made conditional on greater democratization and respect for human rights. The future of relations will to a great extent depend on how Egypt conducts the third and final stage of its political roadmap — parliamentary elections, says Hassan. Turning to Moscow In September 2013 Fahmi travelled to Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. In November Lavrov and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Egypt for the first high-level talks in decades. The Russian delegation participated in a 2+2 meeting with Fahmi and then defence minister Al-Sisi. A second 2+2 meeting was held in Moscow in February 2014. These visits, together with Al-Sisi's post-election trip to Moscow, opened the door for wider cooperation, most notably in the military and nuclear fields. Russia expressed its willingness to help finance Egypt's nuclear energy ambitions and other development projects. Additional meetings took place throughout the year. Earlier this month Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri and Lavrov met at the second Arab-Russian forum held in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. They discussed political, economic and commercial cooperation, as well as preparations for Vladimir Putin's visit to Egypt next year. The Palestinian issue Cairo continued to support the right of the Palestinian people to establish a country within the pre-1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital. It repeatedly condemned the building of Israeli settlements and attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. In August Cairo helped broker the truce that ended seven weeks of Palestinian-Israeli fighting in Gaza that left 2,200 Palestinians dead and more than 100,000 homeless. In October it hosted the Gaza Reconstruction Conference during which $5.4 billion was pledged to rebuild Gaza. Egypt's position on the Palestinian issue, says Hassan, remains unchanged despite the problems caused by inter-Palestinian divisions. Washington's position, he adds, remains as mercurial as ever. The nine-month US-sponsored peace negotiations that were supposed to end in April folded without any tangible results on the ground. “Taking the issue to the UN is a positive development that Egypt supports. Increasing numbers of foreign citizens are appalled by Israeli practices, which is why they are pushing their governments to recognise the Palestinian state. This is moving the issue in the right direction.” Improving ties with Africa The Mubarak regime ignored relations with Africa for more than a decade. The situation did not improve under the Muslim Brotherhood's one-year rule when relations with Ethiopia reached a new low over the Renaissance Dam. Post-June diplomacy has worked to improve relations with African states in general, and with Nile Basin states in particular. Both Fahmi and Shukri paid visits to African capitals, and the Nile Basin states became one of Egypt's foreign policy priorities. Al-Sisi's participation in the African Union summit in June marked a breakthrough in Egypt's relations with Africa. Held in Equatorial Guinea, the summit contributed to Egypt's readmission to the African Union's Peace and Security Council (PSC) and a thaw in Egyptian-Ethiopian relations. Immediately following Morsi's removal, the African Union had suspended Egypt's membership of the PSC. The suspension was lifted a few days before the summit, after Egypt completed the first two steps — a new constitution and presidential elections — of its post-Morsi roadmap. In his speech to the summit Al-Sisi stressed Egypt's commitment to pan-Africanism. During the summit he met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. The two leaders issued a joint statement outlining the basic principles of bilateral relations: that Ethiopia would respect the centrality of the Nile for Egypt while Egypt respected Ethiopia's rights to development. Relations between Cairo and Addis Ababa reached their nadir because of Egyptian concerns that the Renaissance Dam project would reduce Egypt's share of Nile water. Helmi Shaarawi praised Egypt's new openness to Nile basin states. “Cairo is trying to be more flexible with Ethiopia and establish closer ties with Southern Sudan, Congo and Uganda, so as to create a balance of power between Nile basin states. The water issue continues to govern relations with African states to a great extent. In the past, because of its support of liberation movements, Egypt had a greater role in the continent. I hope Egypt finds a way to move from the diplomacy of water to greater integration with African states.” Shaarawi wonders why there is not greater continental cooperation in the field of combating terrorism, arguing, “There are mutual benefits in cooperation between Egypt and states like Kenya and Nigeria which have both been hit by terrorism.” Hassan believes the real problem with Nile basin states is not the scarcity, but proper management, of water. “The different parties are at last trying to be in a win-win situation in which priority is given to confidence building, finding mutual interests and working together to achieve them,” he says. Libya Egypt supports the Libyan people in their fight against terrorist groups and their quest for stability and security. Shukri, who attended the fifth ministerial meeting of Libya's neighbours in Khartoum earlier this month, has repeatedly stressed that dialogue in Libya is essential if military operations and violence are to be avoided. In August Shukri held a conference in Cairo with his Libyan counterpart Mohamed Abdel-Aziz to announce an initiative to bring stability to Libya. The plan included disarming warring militias. The conference was preceded by a ministerial meeting with Libya's neighbours, the fourth since the unrest escalated. Egyptian-Libyan meetings to review security and political developments in Libya and follow-up on the implementation of the initiative are ongoing. Sudan Cairo views relations with Khartoum as on a par with relations with Libya. Al-Sisi's first foreign visit as president was to Khartoum. He stopped briefly in Sudan on his way back from the AU summit in June and met with President Omar Al-Bashir. The visit aimed to strengthen bilateral relations. After the meeting the two presidents held a joint press conference and announced there would soon be greater cooperation between the two states across a range of different fields. Al-Bashir arrived in Cairo in October, and the two presidents discussed strengthening bilateral relations and regional and international issues, including the situation in Libya. The exchange of visits appears to have eased the tensions that developed in the wake of Khartoum's support for the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt. Any improvement in mutual relations is likely to be reflected in Sudan's stance on the Ethiopian dam. The Egyptian and Sudanese foreign ministers have held a number of meetings. The most recent was this month when Shukri travelled to Sudan to attend the Arab-Russian forum. Gulf Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates welcomed the ouster of Morsi and offered Egypt support following 30 June. They announced they respected the will of the Egyptian people and asked the international community to do the same. The three Gulf states quickly pledged a total of $12 billion of financial assistance to Egypt. By the end of December last year some $8 billion had been transferred. Bayoumi insists Egypt should replace such aid with Gulf investment. “We need to create an attractive atmosphere for investment. It is up to the media to help in attracting investors. This way we create a win-win situation, for Egypt and Gulf investors.” With Qatar the story was different. A strong supporter of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar opposed his removal. Doha rejected Morsi's ouster and called the June Revolution a “military coup”, using its TV channel Al-Jazeera to continuously attack Egypt's post-June political situation. Doha welcomed fleeing Brotherhood leaders and provided them with a media platform. Qatar also withdrew the economic support it had provided during the one-year rule of the Brotherhood. The deterioration in Egyptian-Qatari relations resulted in February's recall of the Egyptian ambassador to Qatar. A line appeared to have been drawn under the tensions last month when Cairo welcomed a Saudi initiative to settle outstanding differences between Doha and its Gulf neighbours. Qatar has expelled a number of Brotherhood leaders from Doha and Al-Jazeera has begun to change the tone of its reporting on Egypt. It now refers to Al-Sisi as Egypt's president rather than “the leader of the coup.” Egyptian diplomacy is experienced enough to weigh the importance of Egypt-Qatari relations, says Hassan. “Qatar is an Arab state and Egypt has joint interests with Doha which is home to a large Egyptian community.” Hassan welcomed recent signs of a thaw in relations but stressed more steps need to be taken. Turkey Relations between Cairo and Ankara deteriorated quickly after Morsi was removed. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly opposed Morsi's ouster, describing it as a “coup”, and has repeatedly criticised the current regime. Egypt's Foreign Ministry has complained to Turkey over the statements and accuses Erdogan of interfering in Egypt's internal affairs. Both countries recalled their ambassadors in August. The Turkish ambassador returned to Cairo in September, but Egypt has yet to send a representative to Ankara. Syrian conflict Under Morsi, Egypt offered substantial support to Syria's anti-government rebels. Cairo's post-June 30 policy is to promote a political solution to the crisis. Fahmi stressed in his first press conference that jihad is not an option in Syria and ruled out the possibility of foreign military intervention in the conflict. Egyptian membership of the UN Security Council Egyptian diplomacy has been actively canvassing support for its bid to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2016 and 2017. Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab raised the issue at the fifteenth Francophone Summit in Dakar in November where he urged all member-states to support Egypt's candidacy. Hisham Badr, assistant foreign minister for multi-party affairs and international security, held a meeting with ambassadors from Arab states in Cairo to press Egypt's case and review regional issues of concern to the Security Council. Similar meetings have been held with Asian and African ambassadors to Egypt. “Nonpermanent members take part in drafting resolutions and help decide whether or not to present them,” explains Hassan. “The decision to establish a Palestinian state, for example, needs nine votes in order to be presented to the SC.” Egypt is a founding member of the UN and held a non-permanent seat on the Security Council from 1949-1950, 1961-1962, 1984-1985 and 1996-1997.
