Al Ahram, p.10, (17-11-2008)
Egypt and India in view of President Mubarak's visit
By: Dr. Mohammed Noaman Galal
President Mubarak's visit to India coincides with the anniversary of Nehru's birthday. The Indian leader Nehru, India's first prime minister, is the engineer of the Indian rise and one of the NAM founders along with Abdel Nasser and Tito. President Mubarak's visit to India comes at a very important historical point of time for several reasons:
First, India is no longer an underdeveloped or emerging country, but rather a major developing country. It is a nuclear country. It has advanced missiles and high technologies. It has the Silicon Valley, modern industries and a leading development experiment. It has an advanced space program and a developed navy.
Second, the Indian democratic experiment is a leading experiment that continued non-stop since its independence in 1947, i.e., the Indian democratic experiment is now 61 years old. This experiment managed to survive all difficulties and suit itself with all changes.
The Indian experiment is leading not only in terms of democracy in its traditional meaning, but also in terms of its modern meaning. Happiness overwhelmed the world as Barack Obama took over presidency in the US. India, however, was the first to give minorities the opportunity to assume presidency. Two Muslims have assumed presidency in India since its independence. The current Indian president is a woman and the vice president is a Muslim. More importantly, the prime minister belongs to the Sikhs, a small minority in India. So, in India minorities have access to official high-ranking positions. Can democracy go beyond that?
Third, over its long history, India gave supremacy to two things: the law, as a foundation, and equality-based citizenship. India has not imposed the state of emergency except during short periods and sometimes in some border states. Throughout the country, the rule of law and constitution is established and the human rights are respected within the limits of the law.
Fourth, India's foreign policy in Nehru's era was keen to call for non-alignment and, at the same time, focus on economic development via the public and private sectors, whether during the rule of the Congress party or the BJP and the rightist parties allied with it. The Indian policy unleashed the private sector to achieve the so-called Indian miracle, which followed the Chinese miracle. Over the last 10 year, India has achieved a GDP of 9%, which made India an important international player in the economic and political fields. It is one of the 20 countries participating in Washington Summit and Sao Paolo Summit. It is also one of the BRIC countries (China, India, Russia and Brazil). It is the 7th most important nuclear country following the 5 major countries and Israel. It is a huge economic power.
Fifth, India has special friendly relations with Egypt given the great memories of independence, the foundation of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 which covers the developing countries, and the cooperation in various international forums. Scientifically, India maintained close relations with Egypt in spite of the fact that these relations declined after Camp David agreement and the Arab countries' boycott to Egypt. India is one of the largest investors in Egypt. It has investments in industrial and oil fields and in many companies in Egypt. India is one of the largest importers from Egypt.
Hence, Mubarak's visit will open the door again for a strategic dialogue and a new strategic partnership in the 21st century.
The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and India exceeds $2 billion, amounting to $2357 million. The Indian imports from Egypt amount to three times its exports to Egypt. The Indian investments in Egypt are large comparing to many important Asian countries. India's excellence in IT and graduating IT professionals is a matter that Egypt should study well.
Recognizing the sensitivities and considerations that affected the growth of the Egyptian-Indian relations in a past stage, we have to say that politics are based on interests, not feelings. It is in favour of both Egypt and India to develop and enhance their relations. We cannot forget India's positive attitudes on the nationalization of the Suez Canal, the tripartite aggression, 1967 war and 1973 war.
The Egyptian-Indian cooperation is multidimensional. Egypt should benefit from the Indian experiment in terms of democracy and development. In my opinion and in view of the relations between the two countries and their foreign policies, it is now time to enhance the Egyptian-Indian relations. The starting point for this is President Mubarak's visit to India.
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