More impressively, he managed to resume diplomatic and trade relations with moderate Arab countries while maintaining the treaty with Israel. By the end of the 1980s Egypt was once again playing a leading role in Arab politics. Egypt's vital role in support of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the Gulf War combined with death of socialist-communist influence in the Arab world returned the country to the centre of Middle Eastern politics.

However, Egypt's domestic situation is far from stable. The country's economic reforms and infrastructure development cannot keep pace with the population explosion and inflation. Extremist Muslim groups launched a campaign of terrorism against foreigners, which paralyzed the government and damaged tourism between 1992 and the beginning of 1994. But security forces broke the main terrorist groups in Cairo and Upper Egypt and the summer of 1994 experienced a spectacular revival of tourism, particularly from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.