Interim President Adly Mansour announced the launch of two “national projects” in a televised speech broadcasted on Saturday night in celebration of the 40th anniversary of 6 October 1973.
Mansour announced the launch of “multiple nuclear plants for peaceful purposes, beginning with Al-Dabaa.” Mansour thanked Al-Dabaa residents for their “ultimate patriotism” for relinquishing control of land to the military for the plant’s construction.
The interim president also announced the launch of “The National Project for the Development of the Suez Canal Zone”, adding that these projects “will be launched on scientific basis, and with the formation of joint-stock companies in which shares are offered for public subscription.”
Mansour demanded the end of “Israeli occupation of Arab lands” saying that “Egypt believes in just and inclusive peace, and this will not happen without the end of the Israeli occupation of Arab lands, and the founding of a Palestinian independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem.”
The interim president welcomed the resumption of negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians on the basis of the “Land for Peace” concept and “the decisions of the United Nations concerned with [Palestinian-Israeli] issue.” He condemned, however, the “provocative practices” by Israel, which he said “would not help the fulfillment of peace.”
The Anti-Coup Alliance denounced Mansour’s statements concerning Palestine in a press release. The group said it condemned “remarks made by the coup-appointed president in his speech, in which he stated that Egypt is seeking to establish a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the first time a divided Jerusalem is mentioned in Egypt.” The alliance added that Mansour’s statements are “consecration of the Zionist project. It also is an indication that the coup is one of the tools of the Zionist-American project to destroy the Arab and Muslim nation.”
Meanwhile, echoing Mansour’s celebration of the October War, Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi gave a televised speech on Sunday afternoon, in which he commented on Egypt’s economic situation.
“The economy is our biggest problem, yet it is our savior,” he said. “The Egyptian economic position is beginning to solidify; there are obvious indicators like the increase of cash reserves, the stability of exchange rates and the lifting of travel warnings to Egypt.”
The prime minister also thanked “the support of our brothers in the Gulf countries”
El-Beblawi went on to assert that Egypt had begun its post 30 June political path. “After setting up the institution and approving it in a referendum, the voters will choose a parliament and a president according to the roadmap,” he said, adding that economic progress must be supported by progress on the political path and security issues.
El-Beblawi urged the Egyptian people “to dismiss division and strife and take steps into the future,” benefiting from the “spirit of the October victory.”
El-Beblawi and his cabinet were sworn in on 16 July 2013, while Mansour was appointed as interim president on 3 July 2013, due to his former position as head of Supreme Constitutional Court, after the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi.
