The country is reaching out to African countries through visits and diplomatic missions to build historic relations and new economic ties. CHRISTABEL LIGAMI spoke with Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs about this change in business outlook.

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Egypt recently changed its foreign policy to focus more on Africa as opposed to the Middle East. What has prompted its focus on Africa?

Egypt never left the continent but has maintained a degree of interest and attention to the continent from the time of colonial deliberations through its presence of representation whether by virtue of participation at all the activities of the African Union and undoubtedly there is recognition of greater potential of engagement now as compared to previous governments.

We are among the founders of the AU as the Organisation of Africa Union (OAU). The waning of interest then was as a result of one hand policy and the other maybe destruction related to other areas that became more priority to the subsequent Egyptian government.

However, there has been a dialogue on the way that has categorised as Egypt returning to the African continent. But we have to be realistic, there was maybe a misevaluation at that time on the importance and necessity to work more actively to enhance this relationship.

Therefore, the current position is to affirm its support for the development and prosperity of all nations on the continent. This is something Egypt has historically maintained in its relations with Africa, as it supported them to achieve national liberation and especially that Egypt places special significance on Nile basin countries, since the Nile represents a shared destiny for the peoples who live on its banks. This has been reflected on Egypt’s relations with the Nile countries.

Egypt has been at logger heads with Nile Basin countries especially Ethiopia. How is the relationship now?

The relations with Ethiopia on the Nile received strong support, especially after the countries’ two leaders met and enjoyed the Malabo spirit in their bilateral relations last year.

The principle of “No Harm” was affirmed and Egypt recognised Ethiopia’s right to development while Ethiopia recognized Egypt’s right to get its share of the Nile’s waters without any reduction, especially since Egypt’s position is rooted in international law, which regulates matters pertaining to international rivers, in addition to the various treaties which stipulate Egypt’s share of the Nile’s waters.

Egyptians solely rely on the Nile’s water for life, compared to Nile basin counties who enjoy an abundance of rainfall.

Is Egypt therefore ready to sign the Nile Treaty?

The Treaty was not arrived at with consensus and therefore it needs to be reviewed again. There are issues of principle that need to have a mutual consensus before the treaty is signed as per the international law on resource utilisation.

READ: Nile Basin risks water conflict as states dither over ratifying CFA

What is Egypt’s major concern about the Nile Treaty and what strategy have you taken to address these concerns?

Egypt depends solely on the Nile for its 90 million people and therefore it is an emotional issue.  The Nile countries should recognise that the history of the Nile should be on the basis of co-operation and not to harm the utilisation of the Nile resources. It should be for common benefit and equitable principles.

What is the progress in the talks between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Millennium Dam project?

The talks are ongoing both at the technical and political level. We have asked Ethiopia that we do this in some form of writing so as to have a binding document on the matter. Therefore, we have drafted what we can agree on and passed it on to the Ethiopian government.

We have been waiting for them to come back with their observations on the draft since we met in June and September, they have not come back to us. We had an Ethiopian delegation on public diplomacy here. The president assured them that we wanted development and were ready to help but they must guarantee that there will be no harm to the people and this should be put in writing.

READ: Ethiopia says no to Egypt on new study on its dam

The president even said that he was ready to go to their Parliament and talk to the people in a televised session about the issue. Bu we have heard no further communication from the Ethiopian government.

A technical trilateral committee has been formed from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to remove obstacles to the formation of a committee of experts who are neutral to study the effects of the Renaissance Dam on other Nile countries. A timetable has been set for the selection of a consultancy firm and further studies on the Dam.

Internal terrorism especially in the Sinai region continues to be a threat to Egypt’s stability. What are some of the measures the government has taken to improve internal security?

The terrorism activities in the Sinai region are basically in the effort of reversing the will of the people in Egypt and their democratic rights. However the government is managing to contain the situation through a more focused intelligence and the citizens are now more aware of the happenings which are helping a lot with our intelligence.

What change have you seen since the Arab spring that happened in 2010?

The Arab spring has been a revolutionary transition that has resulted into progress. So far we have a new constitution in place, we have held elections to elect a new president and there is freedom of expression to the media and civil societies than before.

What is Egypt’s role in enhancing trade in Africa?

Egypt acts as a bridge between Arab countries and Africa as it belongs to both blocs. Egypt is not only part of the African Union but also a member of Comesa and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States and is heavily involved in these mechanisms to enhance the regional trade integration.

We are hosting the soon-to-be-held third Summit of Comesa-SADC-EAC, where a free trade area between these three blocs will be announced. In addition to that, the heads of states and governments of 26 countries will sign a treaty on the matter.

Also Egypt’s Agency of partnership for development and the Cairo regional centre for the peaceful settlement of disputes and peacekeeping in Africa have had notable activity by supporting economic and social projects to build capacity in Africa and maintain peace and security in the continent.

Egypt will be in Kenya for the Sixth Round of the Joint Co-operation Commission between Kenya and Egypt scheduled for between January 13-15. What will be the focus for this forum and why is it important?

This is a bilateral relation to explore new avenues for cooperation in trade as we complement each other in terms of our focus on economy. It will be a vehicle for enhancing economic ties between Egypt and Africa in various sides of corporation and open doors for finding new relationship in the investment strategy.

This will not only be in Kenya but will be replicated in the other African countries. The next countries for this kind of co-operation will be Ethiopia, Uganda.

How will this kind of trade relationship benefit East Africa?

This is likely to increase trade investment for Egypt in the region and East African investments in Egypt. We shall focus on forming partnerships with the local companies. At the same time we intend to mobilise funds for development projects in the region and encourage private companies to give guarantees.

East Africa has always worried that Egypt will flood its market with cheap products like repackaged sugar from Brazil. How will this be addressed?

This has been a problem before even here and we are addressing it. There is a team that has been chosen to handle this kind of claims and we hope that we shall have no such complaints.

We are not forming partnerships to push Egyptian products to Kenya, we are looking at the joint business ventures. How we can get products from Kenya like tea, repackage and sell to Arab countries, how we can harmonise our policies.

READ: EA traders fear cheaper goods from Egypt will swamp regional market

This will open up a lot of trade, investment opportunities for both countries. For example we are looking at how we can get Uganda beef into Egypt and same for Kenya.

For the past 10 years we have been renewing the quotas for sugar, we should now be looking at the wider picture of how we can benefit.