Al Ahram, p.10, (26-11-2008)

Towards a new era of Egyptian-Indian relations

By: Dr. Hoda Mitkees, Director of Political Research and Studies Centre, Cairo University

The recent visit of President Mubarak to India has urged many writers to write in an attempt to explore this historical visit and its reasons. The visit came after 25 years of President Mubarak's last visit to India, the reason for which several political analysts were preoccupied by it.

What makes this visit an object of unprecedented interest is that it coincided with several crisis and challenges on the international arena, particularly the current international financial crisis. These issues make it important for developing countries to meet and hold consultations in order to defend their interests in the international forums and avoid the risks and repercussions of international crises threatening their vital interests.

The importance of the Egyptian-Indian coordination and consultation in particular stems essentially from the historical experience that such coordination has formerly led to the emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement during the era of the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the late Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru. Evidently, this proves the capability of the developing countries in the South, particularly effective countries like Egypt and India, to cooperate and exert influence on the international arena.

Hence, Egypt's recent turn to India was based on the awareness of the Egyptian political leadership that India occupies an important position at the regional and international levels. It crowned the considerable growth of the Egyptian-Indian relations over the recent years at all political and economic levels. The two sides are mutually interested in enhancing bilateral relations through intensifying high-ranking ministerial visits, in view of the Egyptian foreign policy interested in moving east to enhance cooperation with major powers in Asia, on top of which are India and China.

The visit was an opportunity to contemplate on the developments which have occurred in both countries over 60 years, and how India managed to develop itself and promote its economy to become one of the most important emerging powers in the 21^st century.

So, it is important to shed light on this unique experiment which reflected India's ability and flexibility to adapt to the international changes.

India drew the attention of the world to its leading experiment as it managed to overcome an atmosphere full of crises.

At the onset of the 1990s, India was suffering from a number of crises after the collapse of the Soviet Union, one of India's most important allies at that time when the Indian-American relations were inactive.

India received the 1990s, which coincided with new international changes, with a set of crisis at various levels. Yet, it managed to address the challenges of the new developments.

The Indian economy was restructured under a comprehensive economic reform policy that aimed at attracting foreign investments and lowering bureaucratic obstacles. The World Bank reports praised the positive results India achieved in the field of economic reform.

On the political level, we see a deep democratic experiment in India. This experiment has become more mature as the one-party government gave way to a coalition government.

So, India represents a challenge to development theories which state that achieving political development requires a convenient economic level. Since its independence, India represented a real democratic experiment in spite of the economic problems it was suffering from at that time, as well as the difficulties resulting from its multiple ethnicities and religions. Through its democratic experiment, India managed to contain various political powers. As such, India is considered indeed the stronghold of democracy among the third-world countries. It highlighted the possibility of making political shifts whatever the difficulties or obstacles were.

In view of the current structural changes of the international system, India was keen on strengthening its relations with the US as the sole superpower, which was clear in the visits exchanged between the presidents of the two countries.

By enhancing its relations with the US, India aimed at gaining the US support for its economic reform program, in addition to its support for regional issues, including the issue of Kashmir.

Yet, the Indian foreign policy was not limited to enhancing relations with superpowers. This policy played a role at the regional level. As an emerging power getting ready to play a vital role in the region, India seeks to play an effective role at the Asian level. In view of India's growing role at the regional and international levels, India has not forgotten to enhance its interactions with many developing countries, on top of which is Egypt.

The deep-rooted Egyptian-Indian relations were manifested in Mubarak's recent visit. The political discussions between the Egyptian and Indian leaderships approached international and bilateral issues of common interest. These issues covered addressing the international financial crisis, expanding G8, expanding the UNSC and the efforts of both countries to get permanent seats at the Security Council. In addition, the talks approached the Middle East peace process, situations in Iraq and other issues of common interest.

It is worthy of mentioning that both Egypt and India make efforts to enhance bilateral coordination through G77 and NAM. In addition, both countries are interested in addressing the international economic recession to reduce the repercussions of this crisis through implementing political dialogue and promoting cooperation in various economic fields. This would give a powerful push to the Egyptian-Indian deep-rooted historical relations.

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