VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #1102/01 1501420
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291420Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9393
INFO RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 1607
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS CAIRO 001102 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ELA, EBB/TPP, EBB/IFD 
USDA FOR FAS CJACKSON AND MHOUSE 
USTR FOR FRANCESKI 
COMMERCE FOR 4520/ITA/ANESA/OBERG 
ROME FOR FAO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EAGR EG
SUBJECT: EGYPTIANS OPEN TO BIOTECH, CRITICIZE BIOFUELS, 
DEFEND RICE EXPORT BAN 
 
REF: A. STATE 52628 
     ¶B. STATE 53346 
     ¶C. STATE 53353 
 
Sensitive but unclassified, not for Internet distribution. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Ministry of Trade and Ministry of 
Agriculture officials defended the GOE ban on rice exports, 
criticized USG support of biofuels, and noted the GOE's 
recent approval of a genetically modified variety of corn as 
evidence of Egypt's openness to agricultural biotechnology in 
response to reftel demarches on the President's Global Food 
Security Initiative.  Officials also noted that President 
Hosni Mubarak will be traveling with Minister of Agriculture 
Amin Abaza on June 3 to Rome, where Abaza plans to meet with 
the US delegation on the margins of the Food and Agricultural 
Organization's World Food Security conference.  We expect 
these GOE positions to be reflected in a GOE strategy on food 
security that Mubarak plans to present to the conference. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
------- 
Biotech 
------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Walid el-Nozahay, head of the Ministry of Trade's 
WTO department, and Fadia Nosseir, head of foreign 
agricultural relations for the Ministry of Agriculture, both 
signaled that the GOE will be increasingly open to the use of 
agricultural biotechnology as a tool to fight hunger (ref B). 
On March 24, Abaza approved recommendations by the GOE's 
National Biosafety Committee and Seed Registration Committee 
to allow for commercialization of a genetically modified 
variety of biotech corn, marking the first genetically 
modified crop approved for domestic planting in Egypt. 
El-Nozahay, noting that the Ministry works with USAID to 
reform and update its trade laws, said he would consider any 
USG informal suggestions for improving GOE laws on biotech 
that are consistent with its obligations under the Cartagena 
Protocol.  Nosseir noted that the MOA is fully supportive of 
biotechnology but that the Ministry of State for 
Environmental Affairs had resisted it. 
 
--------------- 
Rice Export Ban 
--------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In response to ref C USG concerns about food staple 
export restrictions, El-Nozahay defended the GOE's ban on 
rice exports as an emergency measure consistent with the 
GOE's WTO obligations and necessary to meet domestic demand 
at an affordable price.  He noted that other countries such 
as India had instituted similar bans.  El-Nozahay said that 
he understood the ban was undesirable in terms of trade 
policy, but nevertheless was necessary to respond to domestic 
political pressure for affordable food.  While the ban is 
temporary, it's unclear how long the GOE will leave it in 
place, he said.  He added that representatives of the EU and 
Turkey had recently delivered demarches with similar concerns. 
 
----------------- 
Biofuel criticism 
----------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) El-Nozahay noted GOE concerns that US support for 
biofuels are contributing to the rising price of food 
internationally.  Mubarak made the same argument in a speech 
to the World Economic Forum May 18 in Sharm el-Sheikh.  In 
the speech, Mubarak criticized government subsidies to 
produce ethanol from agricultural produce, calling for 
international dialogue between energy and food exporters and 
importers in order to meet international demand for both. 
According to press accounts, Mubarak will present a strategy 
at the FAO conference in Rome to address these issues. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Comment: We are encouraged that the GOE appears 
increasingly open to biotech as a solution to addressing food 
prices, although we do not expect bureaucratic resistance to 
fade quickly.  Likewise we are encouraged that Mubarak seems 
to be looking for new solutions to the problem of rising food 
prices and food security, although we do not know how that 
will translate into GOE approaches in Doha negotiations on 
agricultural market access.  We do know that GOE concerns 
 
about domestic unrest are well-founded.  According to press 
accounts, an interior ministry official recently sought 
emergency funding for riot-control equipment in anticipation 
of riots over rising food prices.  Biotech and trade 
liberalization do not offer immediate relief to this problem, 
but the current environment does give us an opening to make 
the case for long-term solutions. 
SCOBEY