Can American PR companies improve Egypt's image in US?
Egypt's intelligence agency has contracted with US public relations and lobbying firms to improve the Egyptian government's image in the United States, but will simple window dressing be enough?
CAIRO — Some high-powered makeover experts are helping Egypt prepare for its close-up next week with US President Donald Trump. Egypt hired two units of Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. — New York public relations firm Weber Shandwick and Washington-based lobbyists Cassidy & Associates, Inc. — to boost the regime’s image and promote Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's White House visit April 3.
The deals, signed in January, have caused a stir in political circles: They were commissioned not by Egypt's tourism or trade officials, who have signed similar contracts in the past, but by its General Intelligence Service. The unusual arrangement with the spy agency is disclosed in Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) documents on the US Justice Department website.
According to the documents, the agreements with both firms total $1.8 million a year and went into effect Jan. 18 — two days before Trump took office. The companies are to “provide public affairs services" by "promoting clients' strategic partnership with the United States, highlighting client's economic development, showcasing key attributes of client's civil society, and publicizing client's leading role in managing regional risks."
On March 5, the Associated Press reported that the agreements are “the first such engagements by the country's powerful security apparatus to be made public and a rare move by a foreign intelligence body.”
