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DIPLOMATIC TIES
Egypt and the United States have been allies for more than 30 years. Like any long-term relationship, this one has had its ups and downs. Although it seems that the two countries have not seen eye-to-eye on many regional and international issues for the past few years, Margaret Scobey, the US ambassador to Egypt, says that disagreement doesn’t necessarily mean a weakening of the relationship. To her it is nothing more than simply looking at things from different perspectives.
BY RÉHAB EL-BAKRY
It is often said that the most prestigious assignment in the Middle East for a diplomat is to be named as ambassador to Egypt or Israel. When Margaret Scobey was first tapped as US ambassador to Egypt, it was seen as a recognition of her strong understanding of the Middle East after serving most of her diplomatic career either working on or serving in the region. Scobey graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1971. She then completed a master’s in history in 1973 from the same university before completing her PhD from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Although the Middle East is where her career took her, Scobey says that when she first joined the US Foreign Service in 1981, serving in this region was not exactly what she was planning for. “Actually, when I entered the foreign service, this was not my intention,” she says with a smile. “I had trained primarily in European studies and history, and spoke Spanish.” However, her focus changed following an assignment in Pakistan early on in her career. At the time, Pakistan was bureaucratically part of the same region in the state department as the Middle East. After that, she continued to move from one assignment in the region to the next.
“Each experience has been unique, [with] its own very different challenges,” she says. “I think that one of the things I have been privileged to experience is how different each country in the Middle East is because I think that in the United States, we are not as familiar with the variety of cultures and traditions in this region. So the highlight [for me] was simply the privilege of getting such a broad perspective and being able to work in so many countries.”
And Scobey got her fair share of tough assignments. She has served as US consul general in Jerusalem, chief of the political section in the US embassy in Kuwait and deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Yemen. She was also the director of Arabian Peninsula affairs in the Near East Bureau of the State Department, after which she served as minister counselor at the US embassy in Saudi Arabia from September 2001 until November 2003. She subsequently served as US ambassador to Syria from the end of 2003 until the beginning of 2005. She also served as political officer of the State Department in Iraq from 2006 until 2007.
The wide range of her assignments in the region has put her in the unique position to understand not only Egypt but the region as a whole. It has also allowed her to understand the cultures and the peoples. Her assignment to Egypt comes at a time when both the Egyptian and US media are portraying the relationship between the two nations as having run out of steam. But Scobey argues that this is not a point unique to Egypt-US relations but rather characteristic of the status of world politics as a whole.
“I think that the entire world is going through some difficult times both economically and [with] the long-term conflicts that need to be resolved. We have threats in the Gulf; the Arab-Israeli conflict which is yet to be resolved; there are security issues relating to some countries. There are a lot of different areas of concern and we [Egypt and the US] continue to work together broadly and closely on those areas that I think are very important to both of us.”
The fact that public opinion, as well as the sentiment in the press, don’t always reflect this has more to do with their lack of understanding of the workings of politics. While two countries might have a very strong relationship as well as a set of common interests, they might disagree on certain issues, or even on how to implement these interests. But this doesn’t detract from the significance of their mutual relationship.
“Public opinion and press is a component [of this relationship]. It’s a component that both countries deal with and I think that neither government can actually control it. Governments have their policies [and] their position; they have their explanations for why they do what they do. The argument is that the free expression of ideas and debate is ultimately to the good. Even if I don’t like something that someone says, I’m not going to say that they can’t say it. So, I don’t agree that there is a crisis.”
The reality of the matter is that the relationship between Egypt and the US is built on long-term priorities that both countries continue to recognize. This relationship has gone through many phases – some pleasant and some complicated. However, Scobey says that the foundation of the relationship remains strong.
“The US looks to the long term and I think Egypt does too. We know that we have a partnership with Egypt that’s been in place for 30 years-plus. It has been based on a meeting of minds on what are the common security issues and the general belief that the problems in this region are best resolved though negotiations and dialogue and not through violence. Egypt [doesn’t] just talk the talk, [it] walks the walk. The Egyptians are always there when there is potential for peace. The US relies very heavily on that and looks towards Egyptian leadership. But as I said, there are a number of complex and long-term elements to our relationship. They are social, economic, political, you name it. I think that there is nothing in a relationship like this that you don’t talk about.”
And talking is key. She says that trying to deconstruct a complex bilateral relationship like that of the United States and Egypt is almost impossible to do. It is based on a number of factors that evolved over the years and continue to evolve. This might be one of the reasons that the relationship is strong, but it’s also what complicates it. “This truly is a bilateral relationship. You may have, for instance, different views about how to do one thing or another, but I think that we overall share a general direction and a general goal.”
A perfect example, she says, is economic reforms. The US had often urged Egypt to adopt more open market policies because this is one of the core values of the US. “We came to the understanding, based on our own experiences and the experiences of other countries, that, by and large, open markets and open trade create more wealth for everyone. And that has been the experience that we have promoted.” Despite urging both from Washington and several international financial institutions, Egypt only embarked on serious economic reforms when it was ready. In 2004, a strong economic reform program was launched that included reducing taxes and customs, reforming the banking sector and opening the economy to more investment and trade. Scobey points out that it was Egypt that determined the timing and nature of the reforms, and that the US – as a long-term partner – was willing to provide support when needed.
“This has come together in the past couple of years in an extremely productive way that is [illustrated] by the very impressive numbers increasing confidence in Egypt’s economic prospects as shown by the large growth in FDI, the creation of new businesses [and] gradual lifting of GDP. There’s a lot here that has happened. I don’t think that it’s all just the work of four years, but a lot of it has been a remarkable convergence of all the necessary steps needed for this remarkable success.”
But these successful economic reforms have yet to earn Egypt, the biggest consumer market in the region, a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US. In 2005, a year after the signing the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ) Agreement, which allows Egyptian products quota- and duty-free access to the US market provided they contain 10.5-percent Israeli content, Egypt seem poised to enter into FTA negotiations with the US. The QIZ agreement boosted investment, as well as Egyptian exports to the US, which grew from $1.3 billion in 2004 to $2.4 billion in 2007. However, the negotiations then came to a sudden halt. While this had more to do with debate within the US over the number of FTAs the country was negotiating, many Egyptians perceived the situation differently. Scobey points out that, while there are no fixed dates for the FTA negotiations to resume, she believes that the US government is still committed to establishing the Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA).
“This administration set a goal for a full regional free trade agreement by 2013 and that can’t happen without Egypt. Egypt will be a critical part of this. This is still our goal. I can’t give you a real date as [to] when negotiations might resume but I do point out that FTAs are a point of debate in the US. There has always been a political debate associated with this as Americans try to look to the job needs of the American people. But I would say that if you look over time, both Democratic and Republican administrations have supported FTAs because our experience has been that these agreements create more wealth and everyone benefits. This will remain an objective for us.”
She also points out that, even in the absence of an FTA, there is still a lot of close dialogue between Egypt and the US on trade and investment issues as bilateral trade continues to grow. There are also a number of other bilateral trade programs that Egypt can benefit from, including the General System of Preference, which Scobey believes can create even more opportunities for Egypt to export. “Egypt does take advantage of this [program] but we believe that there are other areas that might be attractive to Egyptian exporters. And there are a number of very specialized trade promotion facilities that we have.” Having said all this, she reiterated that the FTA is not off the table. “We have not dropped the FTA as a goal; I just can’t tell right now when we will resume that negotiation.”
While the two countries seem to be in perfect agreement on the economic front, politics is an entirely different issue. The two countries have not seen eye-to-eye on the issues concerning the speed of political reform in Egypt, the US involvement in Iraq and border security with Israel, among other things. While this might strain the relationship, Scobey says it is simply a difference in opinion that has more to do with variance in perspectives. “Even on the big regional issues, Egypt [and the US] might have slightly different points of view of what the main issues are. A lot of it is geography. Egypt looks at its borders – and people see things differently in their neighborhood than others who are far away. The important element is that the United States and Egypt share a desire for negotiated solutions to complex problems. But yes, we will certainly disagree on any number of things and I think that this is normal and that this is healthy and, as long as it’s done with mutual respect, [this] is fine.”
While Egypt continues to be a strategic partner to the US in the Middle East, she says that the country, like many others, could do more to increase awareness of its achievements in Washington. Scobey notes that Egypt’s economic reform success could be further promoted through diplomatic efforts, as well as more activities by business associations and sector-to-sector promotional visits, in order to increase awareness among decision-makers and business leaders not only in Washington but in other parts of the US.
But for now, she affirms that both countries will continue to work together to deepen their bilateral cooperation and identify new ways to expand this historic relationship. As Egypt continues its role as a powerhouse in the region, both politically and economically, it is inevitable that the nature of its bilateral relationship, with the US as well as other nations, will change over time. However, she notes that this change will be to strengthen the significance of Egypt-US relations and their cooperation on both the international and regional levels.
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