In 2006, the Egyptian foreign policy continues to pursue its role in following up and interacting with political, economic, regional and international changes and events, emphasizing the presence of the effective and influential Egyptian role on regional and international levels. It is the same role which Egypt has always played in various international forums throughout history. The Egyptian diplomacy has interacted with world developments and changes during this year such as the current crisis in Iraq and the efforts for pushing the Middle East peace process forward. The Egyptian foreign policy continued to adhere to the constants represented in the following:

 

1- Fostering peace and stability regionally and internationally.

2- Abiding by a balanced foreign policy that is related to the strategic goals and interests, within an Egyptian independent decision-making.

3- Entrenching the principle of mutual respect among nations, adhering to the principles of international law, respecting covenants and charts, supporting the role of international organizations, enhancing solidarity among nations and prompting efforts to reform the United Nations.

4- Paying special attention to the economic dimension of international relations.

5- Considering the Arab sphere a key active move domain for Egypt's foreign policy while continuing to concentrate on the foreign activities related to other vital spheres, namely the Islamic and African, and Egypt's relations with the Nile basin countries.  

 

Egypt believes in the inevitability of the Arab interconnection and the importance of fostering cooperation with the Arab states, out of its firm commitment towards its Arab nation. In this context, Egypt is keen on performing its national role towards the destined Arab issues so that the Arab nation would occupy a prestigious position and have the strength that suits its civilization and history. Stemming from this perspective, Egypt continues undertaking its responsibilities towards the issues of its nation, on top of which are:

 

Egypt's move towards enhancing its firm policy in fostering the Palestinian cause and supporting the Palestinians in obtaining their legitimate rights and establishing their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital is continuing through:

1- Maximizing the abilities of the Palestinian institutions, rehabilitating the Palestinian cadres in the economic, technical, educational and security institutions and increasing Egypt's contribution to "Jerusalem" and " al-Aqsa" Funds.

2- Fostering political coordination and diplomatic cooperation, establishing a mechanism for consultation and supervision on the level of top officials between the foreign ministries of both countries and enhancing the organizational structure of the Palestinian foreign ministry.

3- Enhancing cooperation in economic, commercial exchange, investment, banking relations and customs fields, in addition to improving services and modernizing the infrastructure of electricity, roads, water, sanitary drainage… etc.

4- Cooperation in the field of medical services and delegating medical teams to work in the Palestinian hospitals and receiving the critical cases for treatment in the Egyptian hospitals.

 

Egypt and Sudan enjoy brotherly and deep-rooted relationships throughout their history. Thus, scoring integration between Egypt and Sudan tops the priorities of the Egyptian policy. Stemming from the deeply rooted and strategic relations that bind both countries, Egypt always seeks to foster cooperation and integration relationships on one hand and secures the conditions all over Sudan on the other hand.

In this context, Egypt had effectively contributed to the efforts exerted to reach a diplomatic solution for the problem of Darfour. It had also contributed to reaching Abuja agreement for settling this problem. Moreover, Egypt contributes to Darfour with a force of military and police observers–among the African Union- in addition to its participation in South Sudan with a military battalion under the umbrella of the UN Peacekeeping Force. Besides the role of the Egyptian Consulate in "Joba" to foster relations with the Sudaneses in the south, the Egyptian efforts continue to contribute to the reconstruction process in South Sudan, especially concerning establishing electricity stations, a branch of Alexandria University in Joba, in addition to secondary and technical schools and agricultural and investment projects… etc.

 

Iraq is currently experiencing a critical stage that threatens its stability and sovereignty. Egypt is performing its role in helping the Iraqis overcome their crisis. It also emphasizes the importance of preserving the Iraq's integrity, independence and regional safety, the withdrawal of all foreign forces from its lands and enhancing reconstruction efforts. Egypt's foreign policy towards Iraq is based on some constants that are briefed in:

1- Intensifying efforts with the various Iraqi political powers so as to urge them understanding and holding dialogue to eliminate skepticism, division, preserve its regional safety and entrench its return as a principle party in the Arab system and an effective member in the Arab family.

2- Communicating with all Iraqi sects, contributing effectively in building the Iraqi national capabilities and training the required cadres to re-build the Iraqi institutions, including training the new Iraqi diplomats in the Diplomatic Institute of the Foreign Ministry.

3- Participating in the various international and regional forums concerning Iraq such as the meetings of the neighboring countries, along with activating the agreed upon mechanisms to support Iraq, including Sharm al-Sheikh mechanism.

4- Organizing the commercial exchange between Egypt and Iraq to facilitate the procedures of import and export between both countries and activating the role of the joint committee to enhance the economic, commercial and technical cooperation.

 

During the past years, Egypt worked on upgrading the Arab system, scoring economic cooperation between the Arab countries, modernizing and supporting the role of the League and enhancing cooperation among the Arab nation. Out of this perspective, the Egyptian diplomacy is based on definite steps, on top of which are:

* Activating what was agreed upon in Algeria Summit concerning developing the joint Arab action.

* Adopting the projects of developing the Arab League and establishing an institute for following up its implementation.

* Establishing an Arab parliament for further cooperation and communication among the Arab nation and their representatives in the parliament.

* Fostering cooperation among the Arab states in the cultural and social fields and enhancing the role of the Arab League in this respect.

* Activating the resolutions of the Arab Summit in Algeria concerning the Egyptian proposal on establishing a mechanism to strike a coordination in cases of emergency and natural disasters.

 

A- Establishing an Arab Free Trade Zone: Egypt always seeks to intensify efforts to establish a free trade zone and reach detailed origin bases, together with assigning the Arab League to prepare a study over the manufactured Arab commodities and the Arab added value to be presented to the Arab ministers of trade and reach a joint agreement over the project of the detailed origin bases.

B- Preparation for Establishing Arab Customs Union: The Egyptian diplomacy is heading towards raising the inter-trade rate, upgrading levels of integration and establishing a powerful and advanced network of interests between the productive and service sectors in the Arab States, thus contributing to developing the economic performance and promoting the production and commercial rates to provide the necessary climate for establishing a customs union.

 

The African dimension represents one of the main pillars for the Egyptian diplomatic action as Egypt had always been concerned with the issues of its African continent. Out of this perspective, Egypt develops its bilateral relations with the African countries, including the Nile Basin countries.

 

It also seeks, in the framework of the African Union and the economic blocs' umbrella, to defend the issues and interests of the continent, guarantee the rights of its peoples in a better future and a decent and safe life and support the African unity in facing the international blocs and pressures our contemporary world witnesses in a way the African continent would occupy the prestigious position it deserves due to its human and physical capabilities that qualify it to be an effective and influential member in the international arena.

 

Stemming from Egypt's deep conviction that the future of development is related to pushing efforts of the continent forward and in the framework of its keenness to implement the NEPAD Initiative as an integrated programme to realize the comprehensive socio-economic development in Africa, it adopts an effective African policy that is based on the active movement on the bilateral, regional and continental levels as follows:

 

1- Exchanging visits between officials, parliamentarians, businessmen, private sector, media and research centers to enhance cooperation and understanding between Egypt and the African countries.

2- Activating holding joint committees with good preparation for them, along with calling businessmen and private sector to attend such committees and continuing the work on activating the establishment of mechanisms for the strategic dialogue with the pivotal countries in the continent to find practical solutions for the African problems and enhance the trilateral dialogue among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. 

3- Maximizing the role of the Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Africa and organizing more training courses for the African cadres in various fields, including increasing the number of training scholarships in the Egyptian military colleges, especially for the Nile Basin countries.

4- Establishing commercial fairs in cooperation with the public and private sector companies and at the same time, contract with local agents in the African countries to continue marketing the Egyptian commodities all over the year.

5- Opening new vistas for cooperation with the credit and export banks to offer the necessary facilities for Egyptian exporters to Africa.

6- Cooperating with the private sector to extend navigation lines to the African harbours and supporting and providing the already existing national navigation companies with the required facilities.

7- Expanding the establishment of joint business councils and promoting the commodities and services that enjoy a relative privilege on the African level, such as medicine, foodstuffs textiles, furniture, building materials and light industries, in addition to contracting and communication services.

8- Completing the steps of expanding the navigation transportation network and linking the Egyptian harbours with their counterparts in the west of the continent as what took place in the COMESA countries.

9- Activating the role of the Alexandria-based Federation of the African Chambers of Commerce which headquarters is in Alexandria, and encouraging the Egyptian businessmen and investors to pay visits to the various regions of the continent to maximize the investment and commercial opportunities with these regions.

 

The Egyptian diplomacy seeks to realize the following aspects:

* Making use of Egypt's membership to the Free Trade Zone of COMESA to further the volume of Egyptian exports to the region, attract more foreign investments to carry out industries in Egypt that would benefit from the customs exemption and provide new job opportunities to the Egyptian youths.

* Maximizing the role of “COMESA Investment Institute” which Egypt hosts and encourage the businessmen and the public and private companies to enter investment projects for the benefit of the COMESA countries.

* Making use of Egypt's membership in the “COMESA Bank” to finance export of Egyptian products to the member state of COMESA Free Trade Zone

 

2- Nile Basin Initiative:

In the framework of the Nile Basin Initiative, Egypt's foreign policy is working for:

* Pushing and enhancing cooperation among the Nile Basin Countries, especially in the light of the initiative's remarkable success in reuniting the Nile Riparian Countries and starting a new phase of serious cooperation in favor of the Basin countries in general and the Nile Eastern Countries in particular.

* Seeking to mobilize the necessary finance to implement the agreed upon projects in the framework of the NEPAD to urge the development partners to provide the necessary finance to implement such projects.

* Paying special attention to fostering cooperation with the basin countries in the field of water and providing technical support and the required Egyptian experience, similar to the technical aids that were provided to Uganda  to remove weeds and to Kenya to dig water wells.

 

* Enhancing participation and effective existence in the African Union  (AU) summits and other bodies of the AU and the “NEPAD” Initiative Forum.

* Enhancing the Egyptian existence in the African Union Commission taking into consideration Egypt's contribution, with a limited number of countries, with the biggest share of the Commission's budget.

* Activating the Egyptian initiatives in Africa, especially that of establishing African center for treating epidemic, contageous diseases and AIDS and the initiative of establishing African Space Channel and the African Council for Scientific and Technological Research.

* Paying due attention to support the efforts of the common African action in peacekeeping fields, whether through delegating monitoring or peacekeeping forces or holding training courses on managing and settling disputes and the peace keeping operations in Africa at Cairo Center for Settling Disputes under the Supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

A- Relations with the United States:

In the framework of a strategic relationship that fulfills Egypt's national interests and objectives, Egypt's foreign policy always asserts that its relations with the US is based on cooperation and mutual respect, pinpointing that this relation contributes, along the past years, to serve the development objectives, emphasizing that the continous interaction with the American side, whether on the official level with the successive American administrations, or on the opinion and media circles level, helped move several regional issues in a way that serves the objectives of the Egyptian policy, on top of which is the Palestinian Question. 

 

Furthermore, it contributed to neutralizing the American orientations that might not be in conformity with the Egyptian or Arab interests towards these issues. Thus, the Egyptian diplomacy is based upon intensifying this communication, stemming from the hypo thesis that leaving the arena vaccant will be in favour of other powers or trends whose orientations contradict with Egypt's interests, while depending more, in the Egyptian-American relationship, on trade exchange and economic cooperation, that shall open new vistas for Egyptian exports and Lure more American investments for the economic development in Egypt. Therefore, the plan of Egypt's move concerning its relation with the USA is based upon the following facts:

 

1- Intensifying political consultations and mutual visits between the officials, parliamentarians and public figures from the two sides, in addition to the research center  officials and mediamen, thus providing the opportunity for constructive dialogue and mutual understanding that would foster bilateral relations and contribute to rectifying distorted images and concepts about Egypt in some American circles.

2- Reviving and activating the strategic dialogue.

3- Entrenching  the economic, commercial and technical cooperation with the USA, and seeking, in this context, to conclude a “Free Trade Agreement” between Egypt and the  USA. In addition to expanding the “Qualified Industrial Zones” (QIZ) to include new zones with object to increase the Egyptian exports to the American market.

4- Preparing an integrated concept about the US aid programme in the coming period, within the framework of a new formula to our economic relationship with the USA that cocentrates on commerce, investment, the continuous expansion of the QIZ and concluding a free trade agreement in a manner that promotes relations to the level of partnership between both countries.

5- Carrying out a regular dialogue between members the People's Assembly of Egypt and thus contributing to fostering friendship between both parties and providing a better climate for understanding and dialogue so as to realize the mutual interests of both countries.

6- Establishing a mechanism for consultation between the major research centers in Egypt and the USA.

7- Making use of the prominent Egyptian expatriates in the USA to foster understanding and mutual approach between both peoples, through a mechanism for coordination between the Egyptian-American organizations and associations in the USA and employing such mechanisms in a manner that would realize the joint Egyptian interests and push the future cooperation forward.

 

 Egypt enjoys strong historic relationships with various European countries, whether on the bilateral level, or in the framework of the partnership with the EU. Egypt is always keen on adopting a dynamic policy that is characterized by a positive move towards entrenching its European relations through the following points:

1- Conducting consultations and exchanging viewpoints with the European countries concerning subjects of mutual interests, in the framework of the summit between President Mubarak and European leaders.

2- Going on political consultations and establishing organized mechanisms for dialogue and exchanging points of view.

3- Opening channels for dialogue with the European countries to discuss all aspects of immigration so as to foster and improve the conditions of the Egyptian emigrants in the European countries and ensure that the Egyptian labours obtain a percentage from the job opportunities dedicated for the foreign labours in the European countries, together with intensifying the efforts to continue negotiations concerning the seasonal labour.

4- Developing a periodical mechanism for coordination and consultation on various levels between the Egyptian embassies in the European countries and the state ministries concerned with economic, commercial, investment and environment sectors so as to boost bilateral relations in these fields and create a network of communications that would allow activating economic and scientific cooperation with Egypt.

5- Establishing a society of the Egyptian scientists living there to benefit from their experiences in realizing the objectives of national development.

6- Intensifying and activating the Egyptian private sector's participation in the European exhibitions.

7- Encouraging the signing up of cooperation agreements between vocational and handicraft industries unions and their Egyptian counterparts to benefit from the European experiences  and the relative privileges of each country in the fields of training and exchanging experiences and technology.

8- Modernizing the agreements related to economic and commercial topics such as, among others, the bilateral agreements for protecting and encouraging investment and preventing tax dualism so as  to cope with the new comings of economic globalization and the needs and priorities of Egypt and the European countries.

9- Activating the role of the existing joint businessmen councils and establishing more of them as they are considered one of the most effective dialogue channels between the Egyptian private sector and its European counterpart.

10- Intensifying contacts with the European side on bilateral and multilateral levels, along with concentrating on the influential countries inside the EU to gain their sympathy and understanding towards our stances and enhancing our strategy for development and modernization.

11- Fostering bilateral relations with the EU countries for being Egypt's primary commercial partner and the biggest source for tourism and direct foreign investments, especially in petroleum and natural gas sectors.

12- Intensifying contacts with the Eastern, Central and Southern European countries among the new members of the EU, taking into consideration their contribution in forming the EU policy, their growing role on the world arena and their growing relations with the USA in particular.

13- Continuing dialogue between the research centers and the civil society organizations with object to exchange viewpoints over the main issues related to Egypt's several relations with the EU so that governmental and non-governmental stances would meet.

 

In the framework of Barcelona Process, the diplomatic move plan is based on the following points:

1- Continuing active participation in the meetings convened in the framework of Barcelona Process on various levels, thus having a positive effect on boosting relations with the European countries in the fields of economic cooperation and political dialogue, coordinating for pushing the efforts of a just settlement to the Palestinian issue, fighting terrorism, evacuating the Middle East from Weapons of Mass Destruction, handling natural disasters and preventing and handling human disasters, in addition to consolidating the parliamentary relations in the framework of the "Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Association".

2- Egypt's keenness, in light of her responsibility as a coordinator to the Arab member states in Barcelona track, on crystallizing unified Arab stances and visions in a manner that realizes the common interests.

3- Activating the role of the Euro-Mediterranean “Anna Lindh” Institution which Egypt hosts at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, since the beginning of its activity in April 2005, thus highlighting Egypt's distinguished civilization and deep-rooted heritage, enhancing the concepts of peaceful co-existence and the concord of civilizations and cultures in the Mediterranean region and enriching dialogue between the North and the South.

 

Egypt and Federal Russia (the previous Soviet Union) have strong historical ties which represent a solid foundation for developing and fostering cooperation in various fields in the framework of dialogue and mutual understanding over various regional and international issues, on top of which are the Palestinian issue, the Iraqi crisis and cooperation in combating international terrorism. In this context, the Egyptian move plan with Russia is based on some elements as follows:

* Paying mutual visits on various levels between officials of both countries to foster cooperation, understanding and coordination in facing regional and international challenges.

* Activating the cooperation protocol and strategic dialogue first convened in Moscow, October 2005, between delegations of both countries under the chairmanship of their foreign ministers.

* Enhancing economic and commercial ties with Russia so as to be up to the level of political relations, especially in light of Egypt's interest in boosting cooperation in untraditional fields such as transferring technology of the military sector to the civil one.

* Preparing for the fifth session of the joint committee for economic, scientific and technical cooperation, in addition to starting negotiations over establishing a free trade zone.

* Cementing bilateral relations with the Commonwealth States to increase the volume of trade exchange and establish a free trade zone with Ukraine. In addition to the vital role of the Egyptian Fund for Technical Support with the Commonwealth States in this field through organizing training courses for its technical and diplomatic cadres, delegating Egyptian experts to some of these states and at the same time, benefiting from the scientific advancement of other states such as Ukraine and transferring its experience to the scientific research centers in Egypt.

 

In extension of the cooperation that is the focus of circles of the Egyptian action on the Arab and African levels and in continuation of dialogue and cooperation with the other southern countries that share Egypt's vision towards many issues of mutual concern and are linked with mutual interests in various fields, Egypt is always keen on extending its foreign move to other pivots – in the framework of the South-South dialogue and cooperation wheather on the Asian arena, especially that Asia now is the second biggest commercial partner to Egypt after the EU, or on the level of Latin America, whose role is growing-regionally and internationally– on the political and economic arenas and its commercial market, which includes 500 million people, is expanding.

 

The Asian continent tops the priorities of the Egyptian diplomacy as it became the second larger commercial partner to Egypt after the EU, in addition to the growing Asian investments in Egypt. In this framework, Egypt is adopting a methodology that is based upon the following points:

1- Fostering political relationships, organizing economic, commercial and technical cooperation between Egypt and the Asian countries and intensifying mutual visits between both sides on various levels.

2- Coordinating efforts to overcome the obstacles that impede influx of further Asian investments to Egypt, especially in light of the current investment attracting climate.

3- Attracting further Asian touriststo Egypt.

4- Supporting Egypt's participation in the various proposed initiatives to establish an institutional dialogue with the Middle East in general and the Arab world in particular. On top of which are China and Japan Initiatives for establishing a forum for dialogue with the Arab world, in addition to the African/Chinese Forum and the Indonesian/South African Initiative for establishing a strategic partnership between Asia and Africa and the Singaporean Initiative for establishing an Asian/Middle Eastern dialogue. Singapore hosted the first session of such an initiative in June 2005 and Egypt will host its second session in 2007.

 

In light of the developing role of the Latin American countries on the international arena, on the political and economic levels, and within the framework of the different gatherings and blocs inside the UN and through the G-77, the Non-Alignment group and the G-15 and the expanding commercial market of such states whose population reaches around 500 million, Egypt is keen on activating its relation with Latin America through a plan for diplomatic action that is based on the following factors:

1- Activating dialogue and conducting mutual visits between officials and parliamentarians on both sides.

2- Developing economic relations, in the framework of the economic conventions that were lately signed to organize cooperation between both sides in commercial, agricultural, tourist and healt fields, in addition to the trade exchange accords and the cooperation agreement between the federations of commerce Unions of both sides.

3- Developing Egypt's relations with the main economic gatherings in the Latin area, especially with the MERCSUR group, so as to activate the framework agreement signed between both parties in July 2004.

4- Enhancing the cultural aspect with the Latin American countries, maximizing dialogue between research centers, paying mutual visits between intellectual, men of letters, mediamen and artistic troups and fostering contats with the Egyptian expatriates there.

 

Undoubtedly, Egypt's historical credit in forming and supporting the UN system qualifies her to perform an active role, especially in this stage that witnesses an active action in reforming and upgrading the UN system so as to be an actual forum capable of ensuring international legitimacy, enhancing democracy in international relations and seriously and constructively dealing with all challenges that face our present world, thus fostering the credibility of the international organization, permitting it to shoulder its responsibilities and assigned tasks, especially preserving international peace and security.  In this context, Egypt is keen on:

 

1-Intensifying international efforts to boost and activate President Mubarak's initiative concerning enhancing international cooperation to fight terrorism, making the Middle East a region free of Weapons of Mass Destruction, including nuclear weapons and the commitment of all states in the region with such initiative and realizing the universality of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

2- Enhancing the Egyptian action in international forums, especially the UN, so as to foster the legitimate rights of the Palestinians.

3- Investing the programmes and activities of the UN organs and its specialized agencies and other related programmes to offer support for the Palestinians, especially in health, food, education and infrastructure, in addition to the training activities of the Palestinian Authority cadres in various fields.

4- Urging the international community to bolster peace efforts and national reconciliation in Sudan and encourage the international institutions and the UN organs to contribute to the reconstruction efforts in Sudan.

 

Egypt builds its foreign economic dealings on the basis of national interests and deep understanding of the developments and future trends of world economy. In this context, Egypt is keen on enhancing its existence in international economic mechanisms and upgrading its legislations and institutions to score this objective.

 

Furthermore, Egypt believes that increasing trade exchange and export opportunities will contribute to furthering the economic activity and providing new job opportunities for youth. In order to attract further foreign investments to improve productivity, Egypt works on finding new markets and signing free trade agreements with a number of influencial powers, wheather internationally or regionally, such as the USA and Turkey, in addition to the previous agreements with the EU, the Arab and African countries under the partnership agreement, the Greater Arab Free Trade Zone and the COMESA respectively. 

 

Therefore, Egypt is performing an effective role in the various economic gatherings of the Southern states, on top of which are the G-15 and the G-8 developing countries, aiming at coordinating and conducting consultations between a number of the emerging economies over international economic issues, in addition to establishing common projects to increase commercial exchange and foster economic relations with a number of the influential developing countries.

 

Moreover, Egypt closely follows up the current negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the ministerial conference of the organization in Hong Kong (December 2006). It also performs a pioneering role in the negotiation process, especially after it held the responsibility of coordinating the actions of the Group of African States and talk on its behalf in negotiations. Egypt also follows up the means of pushing its initiative forward to render the negotiations a success in order to realize the development objectives of the developing countries.

 

In the framework of Egypt's keenness on realizing and developing international relations, the Egyptian diplomacy, out of its interest in the international conventions, adopts a policy that is based on:

1- Fostering the relations, especially in trade and economic fields with the third world countries, on top of which are the African and Asian countries and the League of the Commonwealth Independent States.

2- Continuing the merge inside the treaty system of the African Union so as to foster the Egyptian existence on various levels inside the African continent.

3- Continuing the diplomatic campaign to combat all forms of terrorism, participating in laying down its international legal framework and activating the bilateral and multilateral conventions for cooperation in this field.

 

The cultural relations play key role in bolstering Egyptian relations with various countries due to its impact on getting people closer and entrenching understanding between various cultures and civilizations. For this end Egypt is keen on adopting a cultural policy based on the following points:

1- Continuing concluding cultural conventions between Egypt and several countries.

2- Establishing mechanisms for strategic dialogue with the pivotal states in Europe, Africa and America to serve the internal diplomatic objectives.

3- Exchanging scientific, artistic and cultural experiences and scientific scholarships to maximize the benefit from the experiences of other states in various cultural, scientific and artistic fields.

4- Entrenching the principles of civilization, cultural and religious dialogue in order to create a constructive atmosphere between nations and peoples.

 

The Egyptian foreign policy is based on several strategic objectives that are mainly represented in paying due attention to the Egyptian citizen, ensuring a decent life for him in the framework of a free democratic society, creating new job opportunities for youths and providing the Egyptian citizens with a good treatment internally and externally. Out of this concept, the consular sector in the Egyptian foreign ministry is committed to a plan of action based on a number of components and policies, salient of which are:

 

* Establishing a crisis fund to cover the expenditures of the sudden unaffordable accidents Egyptian may face abroad and the burdens of the services offered by foreign countries in this regard.

* Turning the confirmation offices all over the governorates into integrated consular units to provide consular services near the residential places, along with increasing the number of offices in the remaining governorates.

* Establishing a national authority to study the needs of the foreign labour markets, applying training and rehabilitation plans for such labours to increase the competition chances for them and receive jobs and following up the problems that might face such labour.

* Reconsidering the related legislations to face smuggling of the Egyptian labour, especially to the EU countries.

* Establishing regular consular committees between Egypt and the countries to study the needs of such countries that employ Egyptian of the Egyptian labour, especially concerning their dues and settling their legal status.

* Supporting the good offices committee which the foreign ministry hosts to solve and address the increasing problems of marriage with foreigners.

* Activating the role of the Egyptian expatriates' gatherings, organizations to benefit from their experiences.

* Enhancing the e-magazine project of the consular sector so as to ensure integrated data over the various consular services, in addition to the instructions to the Egyptians traveling abroad, upgrading the database of travel rules to foreign countries and continuing the awareness campaign to post the citizens of the dangers of illegal immigration, especially the youth who are exposed to fraud, death, imprisonment and evacuation.