PROGRESS, ADD PRESSURE:

US pushes for more economic reform in Mideast: This week the US and Egypt plan to sign a trade agreement worth $500 million annually. (Dan Murphy, 12/13/04, CS Monitor)

The past month has seen a flurry of friendly activity between Egypt and Israel that observers here say is unprecedented. Now, President Hosni Mubarak is about to get the payoff for a diplomatic effort that is deeply unpopular with large sections of the Egyptian public.

This week, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick is scheduled to travel to Cairo to watch as Israel and Egypt sign a landmark agreement on the establishment of Qualified Industrial Zones, or QIZs.

It's an unwieldy name for a simple concept - tariff free entry to the US market for Egyptian goods in exchange for using some materials from Israeli businesses. Egyptian officials predict the deal will generate more than $500 million in exports to the US per year and say it could be the first step on a road to a more coveted Free Trade Agreement which would open US markets to a wide range of Egyptian goods.

The agreement illustrates a subtle shift in US policy toward Egypt and much of the Middle East, away from demands for democratic reform in the region and toward narrower issues of economic cooperation and support for regional peace initiatives.

As the case of China has demonstrated, merely going for market reforms does not suffice--we have to keep the moral rhetorical pressure on for political liberalization as well.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 14, 2004 8:30 PM