- May 27, 2012
- 8:04 pm
- Cliff Shultz
- no comments
Egypt (re)Emerging?
These key strokes are being entered in Cairo, following the recent presidential election. Cairo is of course the capital of Egypt. Egypt of course is an emerging economy; that is, if it gets some things right. One of those things is good governance, which must emerge from free and fair elections. Another thing is a re-boot to the economy.
This past week, the Egyptian people seem to have winnowed the pool of presidential candidates down to two people: Ahmed Shafiq and Mohammed Mursi. Mr. Shafiq is a former high-ranking official and then interim president of the deposed Mubarak regime; Mr. Mursi is a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. A number of street and market interviews I have conducted lead me to conclude that while emotions run high and voters have strong preferences for the two polarizing candidates, what voters really want is some closure to the revolution, which in turn will enable Egyptians to get back to business, literally. The tourism industry –a huge contributor to the economy– has been devastated by demonstrations, riots and uncertainty; other institutions also are adrift.
To a person, the people I have met here are immensely proud and they are guardedly hopeful for a new chapter in the long, storied history of their country. Egyptians, 90 million strong, have shown remarkable resilience, prudence, patience and perseverance during the revolution and now the elections. The newly elected president with a mandate and clear vision for economic growth, jobs-creation, inclusion, and justice must initiate policies to jump-start Egypt’s economy. Furthermore, without commitment to education, entrepreneurship, sustainability, innovation, trade, and global standards of marketing and business excellence, the promise of the revolution may become side-tracked before it reaches its full potential. That would not portend a promising future for a country often considered to be a vanguard in one of the world’s most incendiary regions.