50 Years Of Nepal-Egypt Relations : Present Reality And Future Prospects

Hira Bahadur Thapa

As early as 1957, Nepal had decided to establish diplomatic relations with the Arab Republic of Egypt, and as a result, we have a Nepalese embassy in Cairo functioning for half a century. Likewise, the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt has maintained its diplomatic representation in the Nepalese capital with a full-fledged ambassador as the Head of the Mission. Their decision to maintain diplomatic representation at the higher level only suggests the importance attached by the respective governments of Nepal and Egypt to their bilateral relations. Historical perspectiveNepal's relations with the Arab Republic of Egypt in the Fifties must be viewed against the historical backdrop of the growing desire of the country to widen and diversify its diplomatic representation abroad. If history is any guide, opening of Nepal's foreign missions was precipitated by the dawn of democracy in the country in February 1951. It is obvious that Nepal had established diplomatic relations with no more than four countries till that time. The fundamental question here is to understand the rationale for the then government of Nepal to decide on maintaining diplomatic relations with a far off country located in the north of Africa, which is part of the Near East from the standpoint of geography. It may sound logical to recall and discuss a little bit about the various factors that played a crucial role in influencing the decision of Nepal to establish diplomatic relations with Egypt. We should take note of the period when newly independent developing countries in the continent of Africa and Asia were very much eager to forge a close relationship among themselves. That relationship had provided them an opportunity to work in unity for achieving common benefits by launching a joint struggle against bi-polarism which characterised the then prevailing global situation. Unfortunately, the world was divided into two rival blocs based on ideological grounds until the end of the Cold War in the Nineties. Those newly-born countries with very low level of development faced a host of problems, the most pressing of which was to safeguard their sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. The rivalry for power represented by two differing blocs led by the West and East was basically based on political ideology. That confrontational scenario posed a serious threat to the freedom and liberty acquired by the developing countries. A majority of such countries have had to fight wars of independence lasting several years. Even the Arab Republic of Egypt has a bitter history of being ruled by various powers like the French, the British and the Ottomon Empire. One of the deciding factors that resulted in the establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and Egypt was the lead role taken by the Arab Republic of Egypt in the Movement of Non-alignment. Cairo even played host to the second NAM Summit Conference in 1964. Additionally, Nepal must have taken into account the emerging clout of Egypt, as an important player in Middle East diplomacy because of the latter's association with the Arab League, an organisation of 22 Arab speaking countries, and also its close relationship with the United States, a world superpower. With a significant size of population (now about 75 million), where the highest seat of Islamic studies is Al Azhar University, and also being a renowned centre of ancient civilisations like the Pyramids of Giza, among others, Egypt indeed held a lot of promises for a country like Nepal which was trying to cultivate bilateral relations with as many countries as possible. Nepal's interest in nurturing bilateral relations with such a resourceful country is obviously understandable. Relations at presentNepal-Egypt relations have always remained cordial and warm ever since the establishment of diplomatic ties on July16, 1957. Co-operation between these two countries is found in such fora as NAM and G-77, among others. As Third World countries, they have been holding identical views on many issues of concern to them. Nepal and Egypt have been in the Peacekeeping Committee of the UN General Assembly. In many UN Missions, Nepal and Egypt have been contributing to world peace by sending peacekeepers, which include civilians, police and army personnel. Coincidentally, seven Egyptian Monitors are deployed in UNMIN (UN Mission in Nepal) and are, thus, making contributions to advancing the on-going peace process in Nepal. Nepal and Egypt have also exchanged delegations at different levels on different occasions. Comparatively speaking, there has been a higher level of delegations from the Nepalese side than those from Egypt. Nepal has sent various ministerial level delegations to Egypt. Many of them are from the Agriculture Ministry. The then Foreign Minister, Prof. Krishna Raj Aryal, was the first to pay an official visit to Egypt in that capacity, who went to Egypt in 1976. Former Nepalese Foreign Minister Shailendra Kumar Upadhyaya also visited Egypt in 1989 at a time when Nepal was facing difficulties because of the no-transit regime with India. The Nepalese delegation led by then Speaker of the House of Representatives Ram Chandra Poudel had visited Egypt in September 1997 to participate in the 98th Conference of Inter-Parliamentary Union. Nepal's current Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan very recently paid an official visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt from July 13-16.In April 1980, Dr. Boutros Boutros Ghali paid an official visit to Nepal when he was Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Egypt. More importantly Dr. Boutros Boutros Ghali was appointed the Secretary General of the United Nations, the first African national as well to assume that high post. There were some ministerial visits from Egypt to Nepal in the Nineties. In March 1996, the then Egyptian Minister for Electricity and Energy M Maher Abaza visited Nepal from December 1-2, 1998. The official visit of Dr. Ezzat Saad El Sayed, Assistant Minister for Asian Affairs in the Egyptian Foreign Ministry took place from May 19-22, 2005 at the invitation of the Government of Nepal.TradeIn today's world of globalisation, as many countries are vying for closer economic integration, economic relations between countries play an important role. Such relations obviously cover a wide range of fundamental issues like trade, investment, tourism and foreign employment that affect the lives of people. Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to state that promotion of deeper bilateral relations of countries are very much dependent on the economic aspect. Stronger economic relationships tend to bring the countries closer to each other. Notwithstanding this fact, trade relations between Nepal and Egypt have hardly been strong, keeping in view the existing volume of trade between the two countries. Available data show that Egypt has been enjoying a trade surplus with Nepal. Taking into account the vast potentialities that exist between the two countries for a stronger trade relationship, there is no reason why the trade volume cannot go up.

Source: The Rising Nepal, August 2, 2007