Reactivating the Arab League – one of the world’s oldest and most important regional organisations – should be one of the Arabs’ foremost collective priorities in the light of the dangers, indeed the existential threats, facing the region today. This is why it was heartening to see member states reaching a consensus on a figure of the outstanding calibre of Nabil Fahmy as the league’s next secretary general. Given his distinguished diplomatic career and his extensive geopolitical expertise, this choice renews the hope that the League can be transformed from a mere podium for denunciations and condemnations into a political “kitchen” for firm and effective policy making.
Nabil Fahmy is more than a former foreign minister. He is a political architect and strategic thinker who has spent decades in the corridors of the UN and served as Egypt’s ambassador in some of the world’s most important capitals. This professional career is bolstered by academic credentials, which culminated in Fahmy founding the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo. The rich practical experience he has gained over the years has made him a unique authority on international power balances and decision-making processes.
Nabil Fahmy is the product of the venerable school of Egyptian diplomacy in a quite literal sense. He is the son of one of Egypt’s most important foreign ministers: Ismail Fahmy, who set a model for diplomatic acumen, political vision and patriotic commitment.
Nabil himself rose through the ranks of the Egyptian diplomatic service, becoming foreign minister at a particularly delicate historical juncture in 2013. He has since made his mark by forging a diplomatic approach that blends political realism with “proactive diplomacy” – in contrast to the reactive approach that has often characterised Arab diplomacy. This spirit of taking bold initiatives is urgently needed to breathe new life into the Arab League. Nabil Fahmy’s ability to combine academic depth with practical expertise makes him well suited to steering our great collective Arab institution to a genuine breakthrough in its effectiveness.
The first task at hand, in this regard, is to overhaul the framework for joint Arab action – a need that has been the subject of much discussion but little action over the years. Fahmy is among the first to recognise that a strong Arab League is not built on lofty slogans but by becoming a dynamic platform for resolving intra-Arab disputes and forging a robust economic and political bloc that can hold its own against other regional and international powers and grapple effectively with the existential challenges facing the Arab order today. To this end, a number of essential reforms will be required, which I will address in my next column.
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