Ensuring the success of the Egyptian-European Union partnership agreement was the focus of a seminar organised by Al-Ahram, reports Dina Ezzat A seminar hosted by Al-Ahram this week explored the ways and means of expanding Egyptian-European Union relations to wider, more promising realms. Tuesday's event marked the activation of the Egypt-EU association agreement earlier this month, sparking an academic debate about how the partnership could move from cooperation on paper to success on the ground. The Egypt-EU Association Agreement was signed in Luxembourg in June 2001 after a decade of tough negotiations. The signing marked a significant moment in a quarter century of intense Egypt-EU relations. It also initiated a process meant to provide both sides with profound political and economic gains and allow for closer cultural dialogue. "We have an excellent -- although not perfect -- cooperative text," said Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, the agreement's architect, "but this is not good enough. What we need to really worry about is making this text the beginning of a success story." Al-Ahram Vice Chairman Ali Ghoneim hosted senior European and Egyptian officials and diplomats, including Parliamentary Speaker Fathi Sorour and Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, for the four-hour event that debated the multi-faceted political, economic and cultural relationship between Egypt and the EU. Participants agreed that while the recently activated partnership agreement would take Cairo's bilateral ties with the 25 EU capitals, as well as its relations with the EU itself, to a higher level, it was up to the two sides to maximise their gains. Ghoneim delivered a statement by Al-Ahram Board Chairman Ibrahim Nafie that said, "this is exactly the time for a strategic dialogue between Egypt and the European Union." According to Nafie, this dialogue should not be confined to the bilateral scope of the Egypt-EU relationship -- wide as it might be -- but should expand to include policy-making on a range of regional and international developments. Closer Egyptian-EU cooperation, participants agreed, could bring about, or at least promote, a peaceful settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is a central element of instability in the Mediterranean and a reason for major political, economic and security concerns for both Egypt and the EU. Ireland's ambassador, Richard O'Brian, said, "the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue will be institutionalised and conducted" in Alexandria -- at that city's Bibliotheca. Ireland is the current chair of the EU. Egyptian participants said Egypt hoped, within the scope of the partnership, to bring up a number of issues that affect Egyptian, and for that matter Arab, relations with the EU. Increasing complaints of discrimination emerging from Arab and Muslim communities in European countries could be discussed within this context. The potentially massive immigration of European, and particularly French, citizens to Israel, and the impact of that dynamic on the expansion of illegal Israeli settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territories, was another item that might be discussed. "In their summit in December 2003, leaders of the European Union admitted that their security starts way before their borders... around the Mediterranean... and this is the reason why we should work closely with the 25 members of the EU to bring about political stability and security to this region," Sorour said. Achieving political stability and security in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean, Sorour said, would require Egypt and the EU to do much more than settle the Arab Israeli conflict, challenging as that task was. Egypt and the EU also have to worry about the issue of weapons of mass destruction. "And we all know that Israel has to be addressed in this respect," he said. Egypt and the EU, Sorour also argued, had to ensure that the issue of political reform in countries south of the Mediterranean be addressed in accordance with the social mores and political priorities of these countries. Supporting southern Mediterranean countries on this point, Sorour said, was consistent with the terms of the Egyptian-EU partnership crystallised by the Barcelona Process. Giving the Barcelona Process -- which was launched in 1995 -- a new lease of life was also addressed by the seminar. According to Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, Egypt was considering a basket of political, economic and cultural ideas that would provide the Barcelona Process with a hefty boost. The Egyptian proposals, he said, were currently being formulated, and would be presented to a November 2005 Barcelona Process foreign ministers meeting meant to review a decade of cooperation around the Mediterranean. "I believe that it is very clear that Egypt is fully aware of the value and significance of its relationship with the European Union, either when it comes to close political relations, or in relation to our close economic cooperation," Maher said. The EU is Egypt's largest trade partner and the second largest loaner of development cooperation funding. The European Investment Bank's (EIB) Martin Brunkhorst said the bank's Cairo regional office was its only non-EU operation. On the diplomatic front, the EU has been a strong and vocal supporter of Egyptian stands on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Egypt and the EU also share close views on the Iraqi file. Most recently, Egypt received a strong vote of confidence from several key EU members for its efforts to facilitate the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in a way that could avoid creating a political and security vacuum. In talks with his French counterpart Michel Barnier in Cairo, and during talks last week in Berlin with German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer, Maher was directly offered EU support on this front. "We still have to see how this support will be implemented, but we certainly have strong political backing," the foreign minister said at Tuesday's seminar. In addition to debating the guidelines of Egyptian-EU relations, the seminar also offered an opportunity to discuss the implementation details of various aspects of the association agreement, including immigration and exports to EU member states. "I believe it is very important to stress that the two issues are linked," Bayoumi said. "It is impossible to talk of increasing Egyptian exports to the EU if countries of the EU are going to impose serious restrictions on the visits that businessmen from Egypt could make to their countries. When I look at the long queues of Egyptians standing in front of European embassies to get visas I wonder about our partnership's role." According to Bayoumi, "there is no point in the government reaching an agreement with the European Union to allow the export of tonnes of vegetables and flowers, if these exports will be hampered from finding their way to the European market either due to lack of transport facilities, or due to exaggerated visa regulations on businessmen." Details related to these and other aspects of the partnership agreement are being discussed with the EU via the secretariat of the Egypt-EU Association Agreement Follow-Up Committee. According to Ambassador Nihad Abdel-Latif, secretary-general of this ministerial Egyptian committee, Egyptian officials are conducting regular meetings with their counterparts from the EU to discuss these details and address concerns on both sides. "So far, so good," was how Abdel-Latif described the process. Egypt began exporting its agricultural commodities to European markets prior to the agreement's activation this month. Egypt and the EU have also embarked on an economic dialogue with an eye towards attracting more foreign investments to Egypt. Egypt has also managed to obtain an EU clearance ending the European ban on Egyptian fish exports. "So, I think we are on the right track," Abdel-Latif said.
