Egypt last week hosted two historic visits that were of great importance. Two crucial trips by two internationally renowned reformists who have the potential to fundamentally alter the course of their respective countries’ development and well-being.
The first visit was by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, and the second by his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. These two visits have given me cautious optimism that only intensifies if my country moves swiftly and decisively to address its underlying economic conditions. Reforms of this kind cannot wait, not even for a single day. It is necessary to promptly disclose well defined goals, manageable timetables, and practical tactics. For the purpose of monitoring and evaluating results, there should be no room for postponement or excuses; openness is essential.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit signifies the culmination of high-level Egyptian and Turkish diplomatic and security efforts to revitalise their relations. After a 12-year hiatus, the resumption of presidential visits between the two countries holds immense economic and political implications. It opens a new chapter in the relationship between two pivotal countries in the Middle Eastern and North Africa, both of which have played significant regional and international roles over the decades to achieve stability and peace for the entire region.
President Erdogan was accompanied by a high-level delegation, comprising all relevant stakeholders necessary for restoring trust and co-operation directly and without delay. The delegation included key ministers, poised to activate collaboration on the ground; Hakan Fidan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mehmet Şimşek, Minister of Treasury and Finance, İsmet Yılmaz, Minister of National Defense, Fahrettin Koca, Minister of Health, and Mustafa Varank, Minister of Industry and Technology.
Nonetheless, it’s critical to underestimate the economic impact of the visit. There are countless opportunities for Egypt and Turkey to be realized. There is still a lot of untapped potential in the current $6.6 billion bilateral trade volume. Regretfully, this trade volume is well below the target, which would be increased significantly only with the presence of political will.
High-Level Strategic Co-operation Council
Herein lies the crucial importance of this visit. All doors are now wide open, especially after both presidents have given the green light for a full-fledged restoration of relations. Their joint declaration to re-establish the High-Level Strategic Co-operation Council between Egypt and Turkey (to be chaired by both leaders) further solidifies this commitment.
The Council is schedule to meet every two years, alternately in both countries. The two nations’ foreign ministries are to be in charge of organising the sessions and creating the agendas for each meeting. This agreement calls for co-operation in a wide-scale areas of interest, ranging from trade to climate change.
In my opinion, the initiation of this council is the beginning of important co-operation. But it requires a major change in the way the Egyptian executive authority works in order for the presidential goals to be implemented. The harmony between the presidential goals for the desired structural reforms has already been achieved in Turkey, and could be monitored through the government’s programme that includes operational plans.
I believe that the success of this important council relies on its implementation plans rather than its well-defined goals.
Turkish expertise in economic recovery
Nothing at all stops us from making use of Turkey’s expertise in putting structural changes into place and establishing monitoring and follow-up protocols, particularly given that Turkey has experienced an economic crisis similar to Egypt’s for the better part of a half-century.
Turkey was severely hit by the depreciation of its currency. To weather this crisis, it diversified its foreign exchange revenue streams, expanded its foreign exchange and precious metals reserves at the Central Bank of Turkey, and concentrated primarily on increasing industrial output and exports.
Turkey’s economic recovery measures included providing infrastructure required for major industrial cities, welcoming foreign investment by selling projects to foreign firms, giving all incoming foreign investments competitive advantages, streamlining procedures, and quickly resolving any issues that stood in the way of foreign companies’ expanding their operations within the Turkish market.
The Turkish state also encouraged local investments and paved all ways to double foreign direct investments, support the private sector and encourage it to enter new industrial fields.
These days, Ankara has sophisticated enterprises in several reputable disciplines that both serve domestic requirements and compete in international markets. It didn’t stick to the conventional industries; it also made great strides in the production of heavy machinery and armaments, as well as robots and artificial intelligence. Turkey’s exports have expanded to over $250 billion yearly, making it one of the most significant nations on the list of supply chains.
The most consoling aspect is that our nation’s competitive advantages are comparable to Turkey’s in terms of competitiveness, diversity, and geographic position. Turkey capitalised on its geographic location and became a major centre for supply chain logistics. Large amounts of money were allocated to build ports, land routes, railways, bridges, and airports.
Egypt, too, may use its advantageous geographic location to produce positive outcomes. The nation is qualified to become a renowned logistics utilizing its geographic location, and newly-built infrastructure.
Co-operation with Turkey opens the doors for the Egyptian economy to benefit from Turkey’s experience. I hope that we have the humility required to learn from others how they overcame crises and were able to cross into the welfare of its people, and how others were successful in building their capacities to overcome successive crises.
In recent years, Turkey has been struck by many disasters and economic crises, but for the professional administrative organisation and the ability to develop and implement plans, it was successful in dealing with the difficulties.
“legendary” Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s visit
On the other hand, the visit of the “legendary” Brazilian President Lula da Silva has an important economic and political impact on Egypt, which will start a new presidential term next April. The results of the visit are praiseworthy.
The visit resulted in an agreement to develop relations between Egypt and Brazil at the political, economic, cultural, agricultural and industrial levels. It addressed the necessity of increasing international discussions on the external debts of small countries, stressing the necessity of a greater representation of these countries in the G20. Discussions also touched on the “BRICS” agreement and the efforts made to strengthen trade and investment relations among the member countries in order to diversify the foreign exchange reserve currencies.
In fact, given the competitive options open to both economies, the total value of trade between the two countries is rather little. One advantage is that Egypt may import a variety of goods, including meat, wheat, and sugar, from Brazil within the BRICS framework in exchange for local currency. But, Cairo has to boost its exports, which currently stand at 450 million dollars as opposed to 3 billion dollars for imports.
I imagine that this file is ready to tackle by introducing the Egyptian mining services required in the Brazilian market, and increasing Egypt’s strategic exports like fertilisers, steel and glass.
As was the case with the president of Turkey’s visit, who “Forbes” magazine lists as one of the world’s most influential thinkers, “Lula” is the international hero who succeeded in rescuing his nation from the grip of poverty and bringing its people up to the middle class.
The person who, according to the majority of economists, is a phenomenon that has to be thoroughly examined and its specifics taken into consideration. This blacksmith, who never finished his education and entered politics as a child, managed to bring about a significant transformation in Brazil during his first two terms as president, 2003–2010. He increased the minimum wage above inflation rates, extended the state’s social protection programme to include all impoverished classes, and implemented family grant programmes that improved society overall and produced budget surpluses for the government.
Lula’s achievements in Brazil are too many to mention in this essay, much alone summarize in a few lines and words. Instead, I will stick to expressing the core of his ideas about how to run the government, which is the need to foster places where differences may be reconciled. To put it another way, Lula da Silva believes that controlling situations is more important than any one group gaining control. Using an approach that emphasizes open communication with all parties in order to optimize gains and raise the potential of the nation as a whole.
After serving 18 months in jail on corruption-related accusations, he demonstrated his innocence and ran for a third presidential term, which is crucial considering the difficult circumstances Brazil is presently facing. Fundamental reforms are required once more because millions of people are depending on Lula to restore the impoverished and destitute classes’ kiss of life, provide wealth to the populace, and stir up the economy’s sluggish waters.
I think there are still lessons to be learned from Brazil, whether they have to do with the causes of success or failure. In both scenarios, learning is essential.
dina_afattah@yahoo.com
