If this were to happen the region would find itself on the threshold of a new epoch, an new era characterized by mutually beneficial cooperation across numerous fields, that cooperation being based on principles of equality and fair play. Such cooperation, moreover, would preclude any single party assuming the upper hand and pretending to play the role of munificent patron distributing largesse. Peres is suffering from quite a remarkable level of delusion if he feels he can shape the future of the Middle East. For once peace and stability are established, it will be up to all the countries of the region to determine their communal future, in accordance with their specific circumstances, resources and culture. Economic cooperation, though, is one thing, education another.
Education is the foundation an which national cultures rest.
He would do better to concentrate on how Israel might capitalize on the opportunity to add a new chapter to our history books by fully withdrawing from all occupied territory, on demonstrating in the future that Israel is capable of impacting positively on the region rather than squandering its energies in a destructive arms race. Nor is the international community going to be convinced that it should fund attempts to realise his impossible dreams. Recognizing the importance of environmental preservation in Egypt, the Agency for the International Promotion of French Technology and Trade, in collaboration with the French Embassy in Cairo, organised a recent symposium to discuss means of enhancing Egyptian-French cooperation in the field of water and wastewater management and treatment. The symposium, attended by Egyptian and French officials and businessmen in the field of water and wastewater projects, was held under the patronage of Minister of Housing, Reconstruction and New Communities Ibrahim Soliman and Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Nadia Makram Ebeid. The seminar's main thrust was that releasing wastes and pollutants into the environment as by-products of different human and economic activities could cause serious health and environmental hazards to the country's economic and social development.