It is now clear, writes Ibrahim Nafie, that there will be no turning back on reform With the presidential referendum, the creation of a new government and parliamentary elections slated for this year, 2005 will be a new threshold of national action. President Mubarak has already begun to outline his vision for the coming phase. In his telephone interview with Channel 1's Make yourself at home on Saturday, and in his meeting with political leaders and the people of Aswan on Sunday, he stated his positions on crucial domestic and foreign policy issues, furnishing us with a clear overview of what is needed to sustain the political and economic reform, though at a pace that safeguards national stability and security. Our experience under President Mubarak gives us the fullest confidence in the path he is forging. And if the average citizen has already begun to feel the tangible benefits of economic reform this is because we had already made considerable progress along that path. "The reform process is ongoing and will not cease. It began 20 years ago and it will continue with me and after me," the president pledged. This statement, alone, encapsulates a comprehensive and dynamic vision. Reform is not a handful of hastily produced ad hoc palliatives. Rather, it is a carefully structured evolutionary process that must engage society as a whole. He stressed that the private sector had a major role to play in domestic investment and job creation while the government would continue to display the same courage and resolve it demonstrated when implementing customs and tax reforms. As the president pointed out, Egypt has also made great strides as regards political reform over the past 20 years. A full range of freedoms and liberties have taken root: we have a multi-party parliament, a free and robust press, and freedom of opinion, expression and belief are guaranteed. Mubarak vowed that this year will bring more political reforms, that the relevant bills were already before parliament and should be passed by the end of its current session, and that the parliament that will be elected in November will resume the legislative work for promoting comprehensive reform. One of Mubarak's most notable traits is his constant compassion for the economically disadvantaged. He has always emphasised the need to protect those on fixed incomes and has instructed successive governments to do their utmost to buffer them against the strains of economic reform. Thus, while determined to press ahead with the necessary task of privatisation, he remains firm on the principle that this process must not touch such vital sectors as water and electricity, public transport, health care and education. If some claim that this principle will slow the process of reform, they have failed to fathom the president's perception of the relationship between reform and social stability. "I am fully aware of the circumstances and needs of the people and what they can tolerate," the president said, encapsulating an approach to change that is Egyptian in spirit and substance. A thoroughly Egyptian approach to change and stability implies the need to sustain social cohesion. Naturally, we will have our differences and our disputes, but we must be especially wary of the tendency to cast them in terms of a fictitious religious strife. This is not to deny that we have had sectarian problems but these have generally been provoked by persons of tendentious designs who took isolated incidents and blew them out of all proportion. A case in point is the unnecessary and disturbing hullabaloo over the alleged conversion to Islam of Wafaa Costantine. We should all heed Mubarak's words on the matter: "We are one people and we must always live in harmony. Christians are not a minority in Egypt. They are Egyptian in origin and descent... Muslims and Christians in Egypt are partners working together on the same land and beneath the same flag. We must not give the slightest ground to discrimination between Muslim and Christian or Christian and Muslim." I believe we should take these words to heart, call the subject closed and focus on those issues that promote the welfare of the Egyptian people, Christian and Muslim alike, and stop playing with fire. On foreign policy, the president reaffirmed the vision that has enabled Egypt to maintain a steady course through the storms that have swept this region and to safeguard its regional and international status. Mubarak has always kept our foreign policy aloof from the grandiose sloganeering and inflammatory demagoguery that has so often led other countries towards disaster. Simultaneously, he has consistently ensured that our foreign policy serves the project of national development and regeneration. "If our foreign policies are rash, precipitous and not objectively thought out they will harm us domestically. If they are realistic, take all factors into account and are implemented calmly and carefully they will rebound positively at home," he said, adding: "We have good relations with all nations. We have very good relations with all Arab countries, with all African countries, with the countries of Europe, Eastern Europe and the Russian Commonwealth and with the US. We have no enemies..." This judicious openness has translated itself into practical gains for the Egyptian people. Of particular note is the QIZ protocol signed between Egypt, the US and Israel, which promises to increase job opportunities and to permit Egyptian products unencumbered access to American markets. At the same time, our foreign policy has always dedicated itself to the promotion of Arab causes and the defence of Arab rights. Recently, Egypt stepped up its efforts for a just resolution to the Palestinian cause as well as for an end to the occupation of Iraq. In these and other foreign policy endeavours, rationality and objectivity remain the key words. Oour hope is that other parties embrace this spirit as well.
