Egypt and Africa: The Common Future
By:Nabil Osman.
Chairman
State Information Service

Despite the dangerous repercussions of the attacks on 11 of September, 2001 against the US and the growing burdens thrust on the shoulders of the developing nations, particularly in Africa, as a result of the war on terror together with the atrocities committed by the Israeli forces against the Palestinian people, Egypt has never once neglected any of its obligations towards Africa.

On the contrary, more efforts have been exerted to serve the cause of peace and development in the black continent. In remarks given on the sidelines of the conference on the New Partnership for Africa's Development [NEPAD], held in Paris, on 9 February 2002, Egyptian President Mubarak underlined the need to fight poverty in Africa. Mubarak warned that no place on this earth would be safe until poverty and backwardness are eliminated.

Meanwhile, Egypt's leading role in Africa could be manifested in the following:

-The attempt to link Africa via Egypt to the outside world. A case very much in point is the Euro-African Summit held in Cairo on 2-4 April, 2000. The event sought to bring the two sides together in a parley with the ultimate goal developing a partnership between them.

Cairo has also hosted the first Arab-African summit; whence a declaration has been issued which still stands the framework for co-operation between the Arab nation and Africa, and the basis for solidifying the South-South Dialogue, co-ordination with Latin America, with G-15 and with the Non-Aligned Movement.

-In its attempt to support the African regional gatherings, Egypt hosted a COMESA meeting in May 2001, a get-together of the group's foreign ministers and governors of COMESA states' central banks. Egypt has taken part in the meetings of the Sahel and Sahara Group, the IGAD, the Dakar summit on terrorism and the Francophonie.

-Egypt seeks to develop an African view of the chances of progress in the continent. Hence the active Egyptian participation in the Lusaka summit of June 2001 where the African Union was first born.

Marking this occasion, President Mubarak and his counterparts from South Africa, The Senegal, Nigeria and Algeria launched NEPAD, an initiative, which gained the support of the Genoa Summit of the G-8 in June 2001. A conference was held later in Paris in February 2002 to pass its recommendations to the upcoming G-8 summit to be held in Canada in June 2002. Under NEPAD, Egypt supervises the agricultural portfolio and is also responsible for promoting African agricultural products in international markets.