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Thursday, May 21, 1998
It gives me pleasure that this meeting has been included in the agenda of my visit to your friendly country-a meeting at the official headquarters of the French National Assembly which has been, since the French Revolution, in the vanguard of all the advocates of liberty, democracy and the supremacy of law. You know that the relations between Egypt and France are not an event of today- they have begun and developed a long time ago, to be renewed in the 19th century when Egypt delegated an elite of its youths to France to be acquainted with the technology of the industrial revolution and the high-ranking multifaceted French Revolution. The analogies between the Egyptian and the French peoples elucidate the existing reciprocal impact. For, both peoples have cultivated and urbanized their lands, and founded their civilizations on this unique affinity attaching the peasant to his land; which leads to the emergence of the concept of the homeland, the people and the state. It is not strange, then, that the first State in the ancient age was founded on the Nile shores, and the modern state of thought and reality, on the great Seine, alike. France, by virtue of its situation in the European Continent as a great economic and scientific center, north of the Mediterranean, and Egypt by virtue of its great- ancient history, geographic position, political, cultural weight in the South- constitute both of them, the two poles of civilization in that region of the world. The two states cooperate together to develop the economic and social conditions of their peoples ,therefrom, appears the importance of developing good-neighbor relations, cooperation and interaction in the basin of the Mediterranean along with the endeavor to establish a region of peace and development among its states and peoples. You know, friends, that undertaking such development of so many sides and objectives must be achieved maintaining at the same time the characteristics specific to each society- thus adding a new factor of enrichment to the final outcome whether political, economic or moral- and ensuring the maintenance of the characteristics relevant to each region. Egypt is now launching the campaign of modern revival on its territory, all in a legal and constitutional context, gradually expanding to crystallize the ideals of legal democracy and human liberty in conformity with both our traditions and modern human evolutions in a way leading to new system fitting to the Region’s circumstances and making for the promotion of the latter’s organizations and systems to ensure the many- sided development: and always in a constitutional and legal context and progressive popular participation. We have to search- with a new vision and open-mindedness - for the necessary means as to mobilize individuals, institutions and organizations to make them apt and capable of participating in the process of discarding the bonds of the past and striving to create still widening horizons of human, economic scientific and security progress, based on the respect of the man and the contribution to build modern civilization. We believe that the enhancement of the democratic edifice needs expanding the scope of political participation of the wider masses, and making diverse options available for the people . This needs the authorization of political pluralism and the acknowledgment of the freedom of speech for all citizens in accordance with the constitutional provisions , the acceptance of the opinion and the counter-opinion, keeping a strict equipoise among the rights and interests of all categories of the people- thus making the final decision in the interest of the majority without any suppression of the minority and its rights. Friends It seems that the bi -polarity which dominated the World Order since the World War II has transferred from explicit bi- polarity between the East and the West, to an implicit bi-polarity between the South and the North; this duality is still existent inspite of the association of the World Order to the so-called the " Globalization" phenomenon which might imply the elimination of material and custom barriers- hence the risk of a revival of racism as a an expression of a moral barrier in the absence of the material ones. In fact, we have seen that in the catastrophic occurrences in the former Yugoslavian provinces- in Bosnia- Herzegovina and Kosovo, in particular. We know that you are deeply concerned about these events, not only because they have occurred on your European arena, but also because they provoke the risk of restoring the racial movements in new forms essentially based on the concepts of ethnic purity and ethnic cleansing- and these concepts threaten the essence of human civilization and require- from all of us- a resolute, firm and unwarerning stand. I would like to conclude my observations by applauding your equitable and objective stance as towards the Middle East peace issue- an issue which preoccupy us and provoke a significant concern about the future. Because in case the present generation fails to achieve a peaceful, comprehensive and just settlement on the basis of international legitimacy and therule of law, the future generations will undergo tremendous horrors detrimental to their progress towards development and promotion an preventing them from catching up with the great technological information revolution which is currently opening unprecedented spheres of advancement, but equally engendering factors of concern and fear of the future. Given this concept, we trust your country and the relative political and intellectual will persist in supporting the peace process, striving to convince the rejection factions which hinder this process to resort to voice of reason and logic, and to disengage from the past, its complexes and reminiscences- considering the future with a new mentality which rejects oppression, injustice and the logic of force- and discards the concept of supremacy and the right to predominate and subdue the others. That is what we anticipating from France, the possessor of that great message which raised the flambeau of illumination, reason and liberty and whose revolution was launched the realization of justice and equity. Once again I express my thanks for your gracious invitation to meet and listen to you. We are looking to seeing you all in Cairo to resume this many-sided and multifaceted dialogue. |
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