Egypt's foreign policy and relations with the world are among the main achievements of the post-30 June regime. After months of troubled relations with international and regional powers — the US that suspended delivery of approved arms to Egypt; the same with European countries regarding arms needed for national security; on the regional level, the African Union suspended Egypt's membership — Egypt was able to regain lost ground. The regime in Egypt continued, amid fierce criticism, the process of building its legitimacy. Along the way, the Arab Gulf countries — in particular Saudi Arabia and Kuwait — provided the regime with a “kiss of life” in terms of political, economic and financial support. Foreign powers started to reconsider their positions toward Egypt. What was instrumental was the rise of terrorism in Egypt and the region, with the realisation that terrorists in Sinai are not isolated from terrorists in neighbouring Arab countries. This explains why new relations with Egypt focused on security concerns. Major European countries (particularly Italy, France, Germany and Britain) developed close cooperation with Egypt in many fields. Egypt from the beginning enlarged the base of its international relations, going east towards Russia, China, Japan, India and South Korea. The economic conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in March 2015 underscored that the world was ready to cooperate with Egypt. The culmination of Egypt regaining legitimacy was attaining a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council. These international and regional achievements prove that the new regime succeeded in gaining the understanding, recognition and cooperation of world powers. The wide range of official visits by the new President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, to foreign capitals and how he was received, and the political and economic agreements reached during these visits, substantiates this view. On the other hand, Cairo received almost weekly high-level officials, demonstrating that Egypt had successfully implemented its strategy of broadening the base of its international relations. Nonetheless, Egyptian foreign policy is not without challenges. The first is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which threatens Egypt's water interests. From the beginning, Egypt's approach was negotiations and confidence-building. However, after long rounds of negotiations, a number of experts believe that Ethiopia is not responding to Egypt's demands. The impression among experts is that Addis Ababa is procrastinating — wasting time while continuing to build the dam until it will be an established fact that cannot be changed. If a final impasse is reached, what will remain for Egypt is to go to international arbitration, which may take years to reach a ruling. The second challenge is the continuation of turmoil and disintegration in Arab countries, especially Syria, Yemen and Libya. Traditionally Egypt was regarded as the leader of the Arab world. But times have changed with Egypt now working in concert with Saudi Arabia, which explains the foreign minister's statement that Egypt is not seeking leadership in its region. Related to this challenge is the Palestinian issue, traditionally at the core of Egypt's foreign policy. After a long stalemate in the peace process, Egypt emerged with a message for historic reconciliation between the Palestinians and the Israelis, expressed on the presidential level. We can expect the message to be followed by intensive diplomatic activity, to mobilise the world community. Nevertheless, the response of the Israeli prime minister was the formation of one of the most hawkish cabinets in Israel's political history, removing moderates and installing extremists. The fourth challenge is the fate of Egypt's initiative since the early 1990s to establish a nuclear free zone in the Middle East. Since it was first launched, the initiative faced first indifference and then efforts to frustrate a UN resolution to start arrangements to establish a nuclear free zone. The choice for Egyptian foreign policy today in either to continue this sterile exercise or reconsider the initiative and put emphasis on practical issues, such as placing Israeli nuclear facilities under an international inspection regime. The last challenge facing Egypt's foreign policy is dealing with the systematic campaign against Egypt in the US and European media, including major newspapers, think tanks and lately international organisations, including the UN and EU. The campaign involves the issue of human rights and freedoms in Egypt. It seems that the traditional response — such as issuing press statements or sending semi-official delegations to defend Egypt's record — is no longer convincing. The right way to respond is reaching a clear balance between the rule of law and human rights and freedoms in Egypt — a balance not visible in the short run. The writer is former executive director of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs.
