EMBASSY ROW
Egyptian Ambassador to Mexico Yasser Mohamed Ahmed Shaban used his national day reception speech on Friday, July 15, as an opportunity to highlight his country’s developmental and economic rebound after five years of social and political turmoil.
“I want to point out some of the important advances that have occurred in Egypt during the last 12 months, thanks to the committed efforts of the government and Egyptian people, including the inauguration of the expansion of the Suez Canal, the ground-laying of the new administrative capital — which will constitute the second-most important construction project in the nation, representing an investment of $45 billion — and a 4 percent rate in real GDP growth during 2015,” Shaban said, speaking during the diplomatic reception at his residence to commemorate the 64th anniversary of Egypt’s 1952 revolution, which first established the North African country as a republic.
“Egypt has recovered its tourism and investment influx rates and has earned a seat on the U.N. Security Council for the 2016-2017 period.”
Egypt won the nonpermanent seat on the 15-member council — the most powerful entity in the United Nations, with the power to impose sanctions, endorse peace accords and authorize the use of military force — unopposed in October 2015.
It is the sixth time Egypt will have held the two-year seat.
The Suez Canal expansion, which was formally unveiled in August 2015 after a year of construction and careful engineering, is now 95 kilometers (59 miles), compared to its original 60 kilometers, and can accommodate much larger vessels and dramatically reduce transit times.
The $8 billion expansion project also widened or deepened various shipping bypasses to allow for two-way traffic.
The ambitious project is predicted to raise canal revenues from $5.5 billion in 2014 to more than $13.2 billion by 2023, create jobs for Egyptian youth and maximize competitiveness.
Since the start of the so-called Arab Spring in January 2011, when thousands of disgruntled Egyptians took to the streets in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, a strong-fisted military dictator who had run the country for the last 30 years, Egypt has endured two revolutions and a spate of violent terrorist acts by extremist jihadist groups.
Consequently, the tourism industry, which accounted for more than 12 percent of the nation’s GDP and provided direct and indirect employment to about 13 percent of its workforce, suffered a 70 percent decline and foreign investment trickled to a near halt.
But in the last 12 months, the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has implemented a comprehensive economic reform plan aimed at increasing the country’s GDP to 5 percent for 2016.
That plan includes the facilitation of investment procedures and the improvement of infrastructure in industrial areas, as a well as an array of investment incentives.
Ambassador Shaban also said that, two years short of the 60th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations with Mexico, his government has doubled down on efforts to broaden bilateral cooperation.
He noted that Egyptian-Mexican joint-investment projects now value nearly $1.3 billion.
Shaban also pointed out that Mexico is now set to enter Egypt’s halal meat market, thanks to support from his embassy.
Those exports will help increase combined two-way trade, which currently amounts to about $100 million annually.
Egypt is Mexico’s third-largest trade partner in Africa.
The envoy made reference to the ongoing cultural and scientific exchange between the two countries, adding that there will be a spectacular cultural event to mark the 60th anniversary of bilateral ties.
After the speech, guests were invited to sample a lavish buffet of traditional North African cuisine and enjoy a performance of classical Egyptian music.
Egypt’s 1952 revolution was primarily aimed at ousting the last remnants of British occupation and rooting out political corruption, as well as improving the social conditions of Egypt’s people.
At that time, most of the North African nation’s wealth was concentrated in the hands of a privileged elite that represented less than 0.5 percent of the population.
In contrast, nearly all other Egyptians lived in abject poverty with little or no access to public education or basic social services.
Today, however, Egypt has free public education and over 74 percent of the republic’s nearly 87 million people are fully literate.
THE NEWS