THE announcement by Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali the other day that Egypt and the Sudan had already agreed to push to fruition some of the major farm projects and pave a connecting land road has been reported by local press and media as part of the news story on the Morsi-Bashir talks but has not received due media coverage and focus. It may be that most media outlets, given their constantly increasing number and also given the tough competitiveness now characterising the news industry, now stand on the watch-out for peppered stories and stunning news; and that is admittedly an understandable attitude. But that particular component of the story involving farm projects and the bolstering of the shared on-land transportation potential via the East Nile Path should have deserved special focus. As it emerged, the announcement tacitly indicated the adoption of an apparently pragmatic approach to the reinvigoration of the multi-faceted ties and links between the two neighbouring countries. And the message was clear: let's build on what is already available and ensure its fructification before moving to found some new projects. As a matter of fact, quite a number of ambitious and attractive projects have been either commissioned or even formally launched. For Egyptian-Sudanese relations to reach their full thrust in the interest of the two peoples, all such projects simply need to be accomplished. At a recent symposium in Khartoum on the prospects of reinvigorating ties with Egypt, Sudanese politician Sadeq al-Mahdi, leader of the Umma Party, forwarded the idea that much of this target could be rendered all the more considerably accessible if such relations are integration-oriented and if they win popular consent and backing. It goes without saying that much has been said and written about the enormity of shared benefits that would follow active co-operation between the two countries, but not as much has been realised on the ground. And in some cases where tangible results were drawing close, sudden political ups and downs interfered to wrap the process in uncertainty. Against this background, it would be both logical and desirable in the case of time-old relations between Egypt and the Sudan to pursue only pragmatic approaches and to downsize as much as possible the impact of any turns in political considerations upon confirmed economic interests. The accord on feasible projects reached by Presidents Morsi and Bashir in Cairo on Sunday and an imminent visit by Prime Minister Hesham Qandil to Khartoum where is due to inaugurate a full power branch of the Egyptian National Bank imply considerable dedication to establishing such pragmatism.
