Gamal Mubarak, assistant secretary general of Egypt's National Democratic Party (NDP) and reporter of the party's policies secretariat, is due to kick off a two-day visit to the US capital Washington tomorrow.
He is going to visit some US research centers concerned with Middle East affairs. He is also going to hold "introductory" meetings – as he described them – with some congresspersons and officials of the US administration.
An official source at the NDP said the visit came at a personal invitation to Gamal Mubarak of the American J.P. Morgan institution to discuss the global financial crisis and its effects on developing countries’ markets.
The source also affirmed that the no delegation would go with the NDP’s assistant secretary general; adding that some US research centers took advantage of Mr. Gamal Mubarak’s visit to the US to invite him to attend some symposia on the Middle East.
On his first day in Washington, Gamal Mubarak is due to attend a symposium behind closed doors – according to the Middle East News Agency (MENA) – at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
On the second day, he is going to take part in another symposium at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Council on Foreign Relations held a symposium on January 23 on President Obama’s agenda concerning the Great Middle East. At the time, the participants discussed the issue of the presidential succession in Egypt.
Among the participants was Steven Cook, a specialist in Middle East studies at the Council who is currently writing a book on the US and Egypt.
On that occasion, he said the current trend in Egypt represented the first chapter in the post-Mubarak drama.
He also pointed out there were several scenarios concerning who would succeed Mubarak as president. However, he said the most likely scenario, according to most public indicators, was that Gamal Mubarak would replace his father.
Cook refused to make any prediction on the matter. However, he said that any successor – Gamal Mubarak, a military leader or anyone else – would clearly come from inside the regime.
He also pointed out that this could make US-Egyptian relations strained, at least at the beginning.
He added that Mubarak’s successor would need to strengthen political forces, as there would be various competitors from different factions.