Solid Egyptian-US ties based on joint interests
Egypt-USA, Politics, 4/30/2002

Egypt's ambassador in Washington Nabil Fahmy said yesterday that the strong Egyptian-US ties are based on joint interests and it is wrong to assume these ties can worsen overnight.

Fahmy told the Egyptian economic delegation currently visiting the USA that the US cannot address the issues of the Middle East and the Arab region without consulting and closely cooperating with Egypt, "Nor can Egypt go ahead in the development drive and solve regional problems without comparing notes with the US," he added.

The diplomat played down occasional anti-Egyptian campaigns in the US media. "This will not affect the essence of their (Egyptian-US) ties."

Fahmy referred to the mission representing the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt by saying that this reveals the importance of constantly keeping Washington updated on the Egyptian stances in unequivocal terms "through official and non-official channels".

The US handling of the situation in the Middle East, he said, was negatively affected by the American policy-makers' obsession of terror combat.

"Addressing a complicated crisis such as that of the Middle East should be done away from the impact of home calculations of any American administration." In a question-and-answer session with the visiting delegation, Fahmy denied there are major differences between Cairo and Washington.

"The fact is that there is a divergence in views on a number of issues including Egypt's disagreement of the way the US is handling regional issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Iraq issue and terrorism," he said.

"This divergence emanates from the fact that Egypt looks at issues from a regional perspective which sometimes differs from the American considerations," he added.

Previous Stories:
  Egyptian team urges US to reconsider ME policies   (4/29/2002)
  Eypt's strong position in support of Palestinians highlighted   (4/22/2002)
  Mubarak phones Powell   (4/18/2002)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search