Opinions split on cutting trade relations, QIZ in the balance CAIRO: The Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) board has rejected calls to join a boycott on trade with Israel because of the ongoing conflict in Lebanon. Instead, the board has established an aid committee along with a bank account to receive donations to help affected Lebanese. It would be very easy for us to issue statements of condemnation, but, in the end, they re not going to translate into real aid, says senior FEI representative Shafiq Baghdady. Our members are successful factory owners and produce products now needed by the Lebanese people. This does not mean we agree with what is going on in Lebanon. We re as angry as all Arabs are, he notes. The aid committee, he adds, will be responsible for collecting donations from individuals and federation members to be air-shipped into Lebanon even beyond a possible declaration of a cease-fire. The most important issue for us now is aiding the Lebanese people, says Baghdady. Boycotting Israel is coming, but it will not produce results now because our goals are different at this point in time. Not all FEI board members support an eventual boycott. Safwat Thabet, head of the aid committee and the Chamber of Food Industries, says Egyptian-Israeli trade figures are insignificant to both sides, so a boycott stands no chance of making an impact. Total bilateral trade between the two countries reached $148 million (LE 849.5 million) in 2005, up from $58 million (LE 323 million) in 2004. Egypt recorded $14 billion (LE 80.3 billion) in total exports in 2005, compared with Israel s $40 billion (about LE 230 billion). Trade figures skyrocketed after the signing of the Qualified Industrial Zones agreement (QIZ) in December 2004. More than 600 Egyptian companies have signed on so far, 15,000 jobs were created in 2005 and another 30,000 new jobs are expected by the end of this year. Meanwhile, textile industry wages have increased by 25 percent, according to the Chamber of Textile Industries. Mohamed Shabrawi, vice chairman of the Chamber of Furniture Industries, also disagrees with the idea of cutting trade relations with Israel. Why are we concentrating on boycotting Israel when it has the backing of other countries such as the United States and England? Can we stop dealing with them too? Shabrawi asks. But Magdi Tolba, chairman of the Ready-Made Garments Exporters Association, says the conflict has escalated too far and is unconvinced by the improvement in trade numbers as a result of signing on to QIZ. The jobs, he says, have always been there but never been accounted for. And export figures still comprise an insignificant percentage of the country s overall exports. [Boycotting Israel] is the least we can do, says Tolba. But unfortunately, it s a buyer s market, so we have to be practical. It s a psychological issue more than anything else because, in the end, we want to support the Lebanese people with whatever means possible. The QIZ agreement is strictly political. I don t think anybody has seen its effects on lowering unemployment or any of the other effects it was supposed to have. Besides how can anybody talk about trade at a time like this, he adds. In the end we re Arabs, whether we are traders or manufactures. In the end, we re flesh and blood and we are hurting for the Lebanese people. If this is not terrorism, what is? How can this go on? This is not the time for trade.
