Russia Makes Win-Win Plans
// in its relations with Egypt
Moscow has great expectations of the visit of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, for the agenda includes not only the nuclear cooperation agreement, but also the discussion of ways to settle the Middle East crisis, which will touch upon Russia’s initiative to hold a peaceful Mid East conference in Moscow.
Moscow’s intermediation in solving the Middle East conflict began earlier than just yesterday. Meanwhile, there is now quite favorable background for carrying out Russia’s initiative to hold an international conference on the Middle East. The conference in Annapolis under the U.S. aegis, devoted to the same issue, has actually failed. Certainly, Egypt’s support is not enough to implement Russia’s initiative. Yet, it is absolutely necessary to secure Egypt’s backing. Anyway, it is a win-win game for Moscow. If Russia’s initiative is fulfilled, Moscow will gain weight as a leading mediator in the Middle East settlement. If the initiative falls through, Moscow will not lose either. At least, it will confirm its status, reminding that there are initiatives alternative to U.S. ones.
The second fascinating subject of Russia-Egypt summit is the bilateral nuclear cooperation, which has also had its prehistory. The question concerning Russian company AtomStroyExport’s possible participation in building a nuclear power station in Egypt was raised back at the previous Russia-Egypt summit in November 2006. However, the parties signed just general declarations back then. The agreement to be signed during Hosni Mubarak’s current visit to Moscow will become a landmark step forward. Yet, it should not be over-estimated. So far, it has been just a legal arrangement allowing Russian nuclear experts to take part in a planned tender (applications for participation will be accepted only from companies whose countries have signed a similar document with Egypt).
AtomStroyExport’s chief competitors in the tender will be U.S. and French companies. Egypt regards cooperation with the U.S. coolly: the country is already dependent on U.S. military aid. Agreeing to cooperate in the strategically important sphere of nuclear energy means only strengthening the existing dependence.
Meanwhile, French company Areva, which has a good reputation at the international market, is a serious competitor. Besides, the U.S and France seem to have stopped dividing North Africa between them, and agreed on carrying out a united policy in the region. So, Egypt’s nuclear energy union with France will not be regarded as Cairo’s political demarche by the U.S., unlike the cooperation with Russia.
Although it is too early to celebrate victory yet, and AtomStroyExport’s success is not guaranteed, the loud application to the Egyptian tender will at least raise the Russian company’s status of a popular international contractor.
Alina Volkova, senior analyst of RosAfroExpertiza
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 25, 2008
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