Egypt, an important player in the Middle East and Africa, has kept its pace of social and economic reforms firmly forward in the year of 2007 and played an important and indispensable role in promoting regional peace of the Middle East, one of the most volatile areas in the world.
ACTIVE MEDIATOR FOR REGIONAL PEACE
Egypt, a leading Arab country, has always been active in the international arena, particularly on Mideast issues including that of Iraq and the Palestinians.
In an effort to improve the situation in the war-torn country of Iraq, Egypt hosted an international meeting on Iraqi security in May at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, showing its support to help lift the suffering of the Iraqi people.
The conference at the ministerial level, the second of its kind which gathered Iraq's neighbors, major countries in the world and relevant international organizations, ended with a final statement on May 4 to support the establishment of the working groups headed by the Iraqi government in the sectors of security and assistance to Iraqi refugees.
On the Palestinian issue, Egypt has always been an active mediator to put an end to the internal Palestinian disputes and the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts.
Since early May, the rival Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas had been fighting with each other in the Gaza Strip, causing scores of deaths and more injuries.
Thanks to the mediation involving Egyptian officials, the two Palestinian factions reached a series of cease-fire agreements before major Palestinian groups began talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo in late May to reinforce the cease-fire and seek a possible renewal of a truce with Israel.
But unfortunately, the talks of Palestinian factions in Cairo were interrupted by days of bloody fighting resumed between Hamas and Fatah militants in the street of the Gaza Strip, which resulted in a total control of Gaza by Hamas in mid-June.
As the result of Hamas' takeover of Gaza, the geographically-divided Palestinian territories has been politically split into two parts since then.
About one month after the takeover of Gaza by Hamas, U.S. President George W. Bush on July 16 proposed an initiative to hold an international conference on Mideast peace to restore the Mideast peace process.
Since then, Egypt has been involved in a new round of shuttle diplomacy for the Mideast issue as a whole and the Palestinian cause in particular.
In a bid to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, help establish an independent Palestinian state and resume the stalled Mideast peace process, Egypt expressed its willingness to participate in the U.S.-brokered Mideast conference and launched intensive talks among Arabs, Israel and major international parties concerned for the preparations of the meeting.
Just a few days ahead of the U.S.-proposed Mideast conference, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was still busy holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, international Quartet's envoy Tony Blair at Sharm El-Sheikh for further consultation, which were followed by a three-way summit on Nov. 22 among Mubarak, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II for preparations.
On Nov. 27, representatives of more than 40 countries, regions and international organizations gathered at the U.S. Naval Academyin Annapolis, Maryland, to attend the Mideast peace conference, which was the first major international gathering on the Middle East sponsored by the Bush administration in seven years.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, who attended the meeting, expressed optimism on the Palestinian cause on Nov. 28, terming the just-concluded Annapolis conference as "a very important step" towards resuming Palestinian-Israeli negotiations on final-status issues.
"During the contacts with the American side ahead of the conference, Egypt sought to secure the participation of all Arab countries in the belief that this would support the Palestinian position during the negotiations," said Abul Gheit.
Egypt's efforts help to result in the participation of Syria and Lebanon, Abul Gheit said.
Meanwhile, Egypt has always attached importance to help promote the situation of its southern neighbor Sudan.
In order to end a four-year-old conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, a Libya-sponsored talks between the Sudanese government and rebel factions in Darfur kicked off on Oct. 27 in Libya's coastal city of Sirte.
Earlier on Oct. 8, Abul Gheit held talks in Cairo with representatives of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), urging all rebel factions in Darfur to take part in the negotiations in Libya.
One day after the talks in Libya which was boycotted by some key rebel factions in Darfur, Abul Gheit warned against sanctions on Sudan at present, saying something may happen to encourage more rebel groups to take part in the following talks.
In October, Egypt was also concerned about the political crisis in the Sudanese government aroused by a former southern rebel movement's suspension of its participation in the government.
In order to help solve the most serious crisis for the Sudanese national unity government since its establishment in September, 2005, Abul Gheit visited southern Sudan on Oct. 17 and held talks with senior officials of the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which had decided to withhold the participation of its ministers in the central government.
For the reconstruction and development of southern Sudan, Egypt has voiced its keenness to provide various programs in the fields of electricity, education and health.
DOMESTIC REFORMS EMPHASIZING SOCIAL JUSTICE
In the domestic front, the Egyptian government terms economic and social reforms as its top priorities in a bid to promote its economic performance and standard of living in the populous Arab country.
On the one hand, the government led by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) reiterates in various occasions its determination to carry out economic reforms and launch programs for those who only have limited incomes.
During the ninth NDP General Conference in early November, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak gave a speech at the opening session on Nov. 3 shortly after being reelected chairman of the party, stressing his party will deal with issues of employment and investment, services and social justice.
The NDP aims to improve the standard of the services the government offers to citizens, such as education, healthcare, housing and transport, Mubarak asserted, while referring to substantial progress achieved in the sectors of economic reforms and investment.
According to Chairman of Egypt's General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Assem Ragab, the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Egypt reached a record high at 11.1 billion U.S. dollars during the past fiscal year of 2006-2007(from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007), ranking first in Africa and second in the Middle East region.
"It shows we have made big improvement with regard to investment environment," said Ragab.
On the other hand, the government also promised to carry out some programs for promoting social justice in order to narrow the income gap among different social ranks.
At the closing session of the NDP General Conference on Nov. 6, Mubarak urged the government and the party to do their utmost to lure more investments to generate more jobs.
Mubarak stressed efforts to improve the life of the low-income brackets, expand the social security network within three years to double the covered families from 1 million by the end of 2007, as well as efforts to draw up a new vision of the country's entire subsidy policy so as to reduce government burdens.
He also discussed efforts to develop the healthcare and education system, as well as the challenge posed by overpopulation which have a negative effect as Egypt is undergoing a transformation era.
Although facing challenges on the road of reform, the Egyptian government is determined to advance its social and economic changes.
Source: Xinhua
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