|
fighting for business
by réhab el-bakry
during his first visit to egypt, thomas donohue,
president and ceo of the us chamber of commerce (uscc), could easily
have been overwhelmed by the country’s multifacted business
environment and its complex, and at times tenuous, economic relationship
with the united states. instead, the veteran lobbyist was excited
by the diversity of issues to tackle and welcomed the challenges
they present for the uscc and its affiliated american chambers of
commerce around the world.
thomas donohue is a force within a force. as president
and ceo of the washington-based us chamber of commerce (uscc), he
heads the world’s largest and most influential business federation,
representing the interests and ambitions of more than 3 million
businesses via an extensive network of local chambers and association
members. as an individual, he builds on over three decades of experience
lobbying for the business interests of everything from mom-and-pop
operations to fortune 500 companies.
apart from the presidency of the uscc, a post he has held since
1997, donohue sits on the board of directors of three companies
and is the president of the center for international private enterprise,
an independent body that works to develop market-oriented institutions
around the world. he is also a member of both the us president’s
council on the 21st century workforce and the president’s
advisory committee for trade policy & negotiations.
the charismatic 68-year-old from new york admits he has always had
a passion for advocacy work, which is fortunate, as it is the core
function of the us chamber of commerce. “we represent american
companies, plus foreign-based companies, doing business in america,”
he explains. “we represent them in washington before the congress
and the senate, the white house, the regulatory agencies, the cabinet
agencies [as well as] the courts and the court of public opinion.
we represent them in activities in the states that are precedent-setting
or significant in implications in terms of the whole business community.
and we represent them around the world.”
to carry out this formidable task, the uscc works on many parallel
tracks simultaneously using a variety of subsidiary organizations
it has established to effectively address the concerns of its members.
among its nine main subsidiaries are the us chamber institute for
legal reform, which advocates comprehensive legal reform; the national
chamber litigation center, which challenges anti-business measures;
and the national chamber foundation, a public policy think tank.
despite its many functions, donohue insists the uscc never loses
sight of its primary role towards the american and international
business community.
“our basic role in life is that we are an advocacy organization,”
he points out. “yes we do education, yes we do services, and
training, and run a university for chamber and association executives,
but when you get right down to it, we are an advocacy organization.
we represent these people before decision-makers of every type and
we do it with enthusiasm and energy and we are very successful at
it.”
structuring the us chamber of commerce as a series of subsidiaries
does have its benefits, he says. for one thing, it allows each subsidiary
to focus on a particular issue pertaining to achieving the chamber’s
overall mission of serving its members. it also makes fundraising
– an essential component of the non-profit organization’s
finances – much easier. donors are able to allocate contributions
to the particular chamber function that matches their agenda.
according to donohue, dividing the chamber’s functions among
its subsidiaries gives clarity and visibility to many issues by
helping to focus nation-wide attention on a particular issue of
concern for the business community. “the whole is stronger
than [the sum of] its parts because of the strength of the parts,”
he says. “you can actually make the whole much stronger by
making strong parts.”
the collective strength of the organization and its subsidiaries
makes becoming a member of the us chamber of commerce or its 104
affiliated american chambers of commerce around the world strategically
important for companies doing business in the us or american companies
that do business abroad. members benefit from the chamber’s
ability to lobby on behalf of their issues and influence decision-makers
in the us or abroad to create an atmosphere that is more conducive
to business.
“the obvious benefits are communications, meeting people,
brokering relationships and solving problems,” donohue explains.
“you can educate governments on all sides on the needs of
business. you can find out what people are doing and who’s
doing what – who’s buying from who, who’s investing
with that person, who’s selling to this person. then there’s
what we are trying to negotiate – what kind of free trade
agreement we want, what kind of zones we want and how do we do all
that.”
securing a share
for donohue, the middle east is an exciting place to do business.
while more known for its politics than its business scene, the economic
reform drives of the past few years are creating new opportunities
for enterprising companies seeking to penetrate its untapped markets.
“the economic vitality in the region is better than it has
been,” asserts donohue. “it’s driven in part by
the energy industry, an increased level of education and the massive
amount of cash that has been aggregated because of the price of
[oil and gas] being sold abroad. and it’s being driven in
part by the interest of china, india and the eu in the region. all
of this is an indication that [middle east] economies will continue
to grow.”
although american companies already have a strong presence in certain
sectors in the region, the rush to invest in the region by companies
from other countries, particularly from the eu and the far east,
means that us firms will have to move fast in order to secure their
share. “i believe the us is going to have to be more competitive
in the region and is going to have to be more aggressive in working
with the amchams and trade groups because of the competition,”
donohue says. “we’ve always been a nation of people
who strived on competition. and i hear about the chinese being here
[in egypt] and the indians and the europeans, and that’s wonderful.
but we’re going to be here.”
this is where uscc’s affiliated american chambers of commerce
could play a pivotal role. there are currently eight amchams in
the middle east: bahrain, egypt, iraq, jordan, kuwait, lebanon,
saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. donohue believes this
number must increase to support the growing number of american businesspeople
operating in the region, and local businesspeople operating in the
us. “i would like them to grow in size and sophistication
of sufficient nature to accommodate, encourage and support a growing
economic relationship between the region and the united states.”
he says the region’s amchams have two main goals: “they
have to be forerunners and they have to be facilitators. in other
words, they have to be out in front and do things here that help
trade to function more effectively. once that trade is in place,
they have to do things that let people do it in more efficient ways.”
while politics might continue to dominate the headlines, donohue
believes economics holds the key to stability in the region. “i
think it’s economic growth and opportunities [that stand in
the face of] all the challenges in the region, and we are very excited
about all the economic [developments] because that eventually leads
to sensible geopolitical behavior because people have their money
in it.”
he added that the american chamber of commerce in egypt, as the
oldest uscc affiliate in the region, will have to play a crucial
leadership role in setting the pace for younger amchams in the region
as well as providing the needed support for these new amchams. but
most of all, amcham egypt will have to make developing the egyptian
market and trade with the us its foremost priority, especially in
light of the economic growth the country has experienced over the
past two years. the reforms introduced by the government since 2004
have paved the way for greater trade growth with the us and investments,
says donohue. it is essential that the next step be to lobby the
government for more reforms and keep all eyes on the ultimate goal,
a free trade agreement (fta) with the us.
donohue assures that he is wholeheartedly committed to achieving
this goal. “an fta between egypt and america is absolutely
critical,” he says. “trade between our two countries
is going up all the time. we need the fta to formalize it. it puts
a lot of structures in place that will make [trade] easier and take
obstacles away.”
although egypt is one of washington’s strongest economic allies
in the region, an fta has so far proven elusive. hopes for an egypt-us
fta were dashed when us officials unexpectedly announced in january
2006 that the start of fta negotiations would be postponed indefinitely.
the news came as a serious blow to the egyptian government and business
community, who had expected the comprehensive reform measures implemented
since july 2004 – including sweeping tariff reductions and
tax reform – would be enough to secure an fta.
donohue believes the problem was not on the egyptian side, but rather
on the american side. “i don’t think that this happened
because of anything that has to do with the [egyptian] economy.
it was a conflict within our own government. it was a decision by
a lot of people who looked at our own domestic politics and which
trade [agreements] we could push through the congress, particularly
in the face of a renewed interest in democratic institutions...
we only had so many issues that we wanted to get through and this
wasn’t one of them, although i really think that we could
have gotten a vote on this.”
donohue is confident, however, that the fta is still on the table.
he says amcham egypt should continue to lobby the government for
further reforms and more compliance with the international market.
in many ways, he believes that it is easier to lobby government
in egypt than in the us simply because of the sheer number of interested
organizations that influence policy-making in one way or another.
“the one major exception where it might be harder to lobby
here [in egypt] than elsewhere is that you don’t have as much
diversity of opportunity to make something happen – you either
get the minister or the ministry to [accept your reforms] the first
time or you’re out of luck. we can go to the congress, the
senate, the white house, the administrative agencies, or the regulatory
agencies. if one is not doing what we need it to, we can put pressure
on them through [other channels]. we have more options.”
overcoming perceptions
while the perception of the middle east in the us may not be that
favorable these days, donohue says it would be a mistake to believe
that this is an unsurmountable obstacle to advocacy work. he argues
that people are becoming more aware that they can no longer view
the middle east as a single entity. they are recognizing the real
diversity of the countries of the region.
“people don’t look at arab countries as arab countries
anymore. they categorize them: iraq is ‘a challenge,’
people are sympathetic about lebanon... and they’re frustrated
and angry about iran. people are appreciative of the gulf and all
that, and the tremendous growth over there. i think there is tremendous
respect for egypt – where it stands, what it has done and
some of the constructive changes in government processes and the
economy. so it’s no longer [simply] arab, it’s very
country specific.”
that said, he acknowledges that the reaction from the us media,
politicians and public during the dubai ports world imbroglio in
early 2006 sent a very different message over how americans perceive
business in the middle east. in january 2006, the uae-based international
maritime operator acquired a british firm that managed ports in
new york, new jersey, philadelphia, baltimore, miami and new orleans.
the contract, however, caused an uproar in the us as politicians
argued that handing over the management of strategic us ports to
an arab country constitutes an unacceptable risk to national security.
dubai ports world was eventually pressured into selling the contract
to an american company.
speaking candidly and with personal conviction, donohue says the
incident was all the more regrettable because “it was just
plain stupid... it was stupid the way the us handled it considering
our long relationship with the company, [which] handles all our
military [contracts] in the middle east. it was stupid the way the
politicians in the us got engaged in the issue without understanding
it. it was very unfortunate the way that some of the media handled
it.”
he suggests dubai ports may have unwittingly compounded the situation
by pre-selling the deal. “it was a battle because the congress
had something to be against. everyone wanted to go home and tell
the voters ‘see, i’m protecting you.’ people want
to buy up our ports and national security is a huge issue. and it
was just the perfect storm. everything came from different directions
and collided and it was basically an exercise in stupidity.”
however, he says there are lessons that should be learned from the
way the situation was handled and used to prevent similar incidents
in future. certainly, he argues, the best way to assure a stronger
understanding between the us and the region is to continue to develop
economic ties. while politics will always continue to play a pivotal
role in the bilateral relations between the us and the region, economics
will – he predicts – play a much more defining role
in the relationship. after all, he says, having interests in a particular
region creates a strong bond; having a financial interest makes
this bond unbreakable.
submit
your comment
top
|
