In the clear

By Gamal Nkrumah and Dina Ezzat
The traditional affinity that characterises Indo-Egyptian ties was reinforced by the three-day visit of Indian Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh to Cairo earlier this week. More importantly, Singh's visit may usher in a new chapter in Egyptian-Indian relations.
That the present lackluster state of affairs is unsatisfactory is a foregone conclusion among Egyptian and Indian commentators and politicians. Both countries' political establishments know all too well that the full potential of economic and political cooperation has yet to be achieved and that Egyptian-Indian relations must be infused with new vigour. This new drive to rekindle old ties aims not only at awakening the intensity and warmth of bilateral relations as they were in the 1950s and '60s, but also in addressing the concerns of the post-Cold War era.
Following the 1955 Bandung Conference, post-independence India and post-1952 Revolution Egypt instinctively felt a strong sense of togetherness based on a shared colonial experience and almost identical popular aspirations and national goals for the betterment of the teeming millions in the two financially poor but culturally rich countries. In the spirit of Bandung, Egypt and India saw themselves as leaders of the struggle for advancement of Third World interests in the international arena. Today the new economic and political challenges to developing nations posed by globalisation lend new impetus for Egypt and India to cooperate more closely in world affairs.
"Our two countries should cooperate to deal with globalisation and we should identify the rights of our peoples to development," Foreign Minister Amr Moussa put it succinctly at a press conference held with his Indian counterpart on Saturday. He stressed that this collaboration in international affairs does not emerge from a historical or political vacuum. "I think that [today] we are building on the unique relationship of our countries and our leaders," Moussa said.
"The foundations of our bilateral relations prompt us to seek the continuity of those relations," Singh concurred. India and Egypt endeavour to give voice to those without a voice on the international stage. Indian and Egyptian officials and diplomats regularly meet and collaborate in international forums such as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the G-77 and the G-15, where issues of mutual concern are discussed. However, there is a new urgency to strengthen and deepen Egyptian-Indian relations. Indeed, this was the first time since 1996 that the Indian-Egyptian joint committee, chaired by the two countries' foreign ministers, met to discuss the enhancement of political and economic relations.
The talks focused on important regional and global issues of mutual interest. United Nations reform, particularly the restructuring of the Security Council; World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, biased in favour of industrially-advanced Western countries; and the lack of serious South-South cooperation are all issues that deeply concern both Egypt and India.
Singh told Al-Ahram Weekly that during the bilateral talks in Cairo, India and Egypt "noted with concern some current attempts to provide international legality for certain concepts that could undermine state sovereignty and justify intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states under the pretext of human rights protection, without having a basis in international law or the UN charter."
Regarding globalisation, the two countries are currently exploring the possibility of holding a conference under the aegis of NAM. Singh and Moussa agreed that their two countries need to coordinate with other key Third World states to discuss the impact of globalisation on the countries of the South. "It is true that Egypt has a more political than economic approach towards this issue, while India adopts a more economic outlook... but both countries recognise the need for cooperation among like-minded countries," commented one Egyptian diplomatic source.
Overall, both sides considered the talks to be a good start. Moussa and Singh agreed to increase the pace of political consultations which, once scheduled on an annual basis, have recently been held on an irregular basis. "We agreed that Egyptian-Indian political consultations will take place once every six months at the level of assistant foreign ministers," Moussa said. In addition, Egypt and India agreed on the objective of increasing their annual volume of trade from $500 million to $1 billion by the year 2005.
Given the ambitious cooperation schemes that Egypt and India entertain, and in some cases work on, in the areas of information technology, petroleum and social development projects, this objective seems attainable provided both sides apply the necessary political will. Indeed, such will appears to be emerging. The fourth session of the Egypt-India joint commission included detailed discussions of methods to strengthen bilateral cooperation, including the establishment of four sub-committees: trade and economy, science and technology, culture, and information technology and electronics.
In the geopolitical domain, both India and Egypt are acutely aware that technological advancement in the field of armaments has recreated a new situation of haves and have-nots. The end of the Cold War has not brought peace to the world. "Conflict has not come to an end; it continues, for it never really ceased. What has altered is the nature of war and peace, which has changed both in the political and in the technological sense," Singh said. Referring to NATO strikes in the Balkans and Iraq, he spoke of the "power of selective destruction."
"National security must take into account the continued relevance that weapons of mass destruction have, in the lexicon of realpolitik, as a currency of power," Singh said, explaining his country's nuclear policy. India's emergence as a nuclear power has been a source of worry in the Arab world because Arabs suspect that India collaborates with Israel in certain aspects of nuclear technology. Singh denied that there is nuclear cooperation between India and Israel, going on to insist that nuclear cooperation with Israel or any other country is not on the agenda.
Over the past several years relations between Egypt and India have been clouded by vague and unsubstantiated reports about the state and volume of military cooperation between India and Israel. Cairo was concerned that India may have changed its political stance, which was traditionally supportive of the Arab cause regarding the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
In their joint press conference, Singh and Moussa seemed keen to avoid making an issue of these matters. Singh stated clearly that his country's military ties with Israel are primarily trade-oriented, and that New Delhi's support of the "inalienable rights of the Palestinian people" -- in the form of UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 and the "Land for Peace" formula -- is firm.
Singh downplayed the importance of India's ties with Israel. "The volume of trade between India and Israel is far less than Egypt's trade with Israel," Singh pointed out. Egypt has invited India to participate in political consultations on the future of the Middle East, the rationale being that the definition of the Middle East is getting broader. India may not be part of the Middle East, but it is a close neighbour. Indeed, Indians refer to the region as "West Asia."
Egypt and India are of strategic importance to one another. India can be seen as Egypt's natural springboard to East and South-East Asia, while Egypt provides the example of an overwhelmingly Islamic country at peace -- in contrast to some of India's neighbours. "India is just about 90 nautical miles from the troubled northern-most province of Indonesia, Aceh," Singh pointed out. "Developments in the entire South-East Asian region are a matter of direct consequence to us. In another direction, from the northern-most point of India, which is now part of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, [war-torn] Tajikistan is a mere 35 km away." Pointing to Indian concerns, Singh spoke of "the great vortex of medieval malevolism and terrorism that has come into existence in Pakistan and Afghanistan."
The present Indian government has expressed concern over the nature of the support that Arab countries, including Egypt, offer India's bitter rival Pakistan and Islamist separatists in Kashmir. Egypt and India are apprehensive about each other's definition and approach towards the issue of terrorism -- domestic, regional and global. For its part, Egypt is concerned about the very loose Indian definition of "Islamic terrorism" and about New Delhi's cooperation with Israel on the question of combating terrorism. Another potential bone of contention is the seemingly heavy-handed approach with which the current militant Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India deals with the rights -- or abuse thereof, as some Arab commentators have insinuated -- of Indian Muslims.
"I think that at the end of the day the two sides decided that they had more points of agreement than disagreement. I also think that they decided that it is better for them to pursue their points of agreement rather than their disagreements," noted an Egyptian diplomat.
Indeed, the two sides focused more on economic issues. Among the highlights of Singh's visit was his meeting with Egypt's Minister of the Economy Dr Youssef Boutros Ghali. Singh was received by President Hosni Mubarak and met with the ministers of petroleum, planning and trade.
Singh also held intensive discussions with Egyptian Social Fund for Development (SFD) Secretary General Dr Hussein El-Gammal. The two sides pledged to intensify relations between the SFD and various Indian institutions such as SBI, NDDB, SIDBI, and NIESBUD. It is widely believed that cooperation on commercial, economic and social levels will strengthen political collaboration in the international arena between the two countries.
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