Cairo: Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi on Saturday took pride in his performance since he assumed office more than a year ago when he pledged to re-establish security and revitalise economy in the country.
“In a space of one year and half, we managed — thanks to God and with Egyptians’ determination — to take major strides on the way of achieving our national project,” Al Sissi said in a televised address to the newly-elected parliament.
He mentioned a series of mega-projects unveiled in several domains aimed at “redrawing the nation’s map”.
They included a new expansion to the Suez Canal and launch of an ambitious development scheme in the area, calling them the “icon of our accomplishments”.
“The new projects have provided more than one million jobs,” said Al Sissi amid repeated applause from the 596-member legislature.
He also referred to his government’s success in ending an acute energy crisis that hit the country in the years that followed a 2011 uprising, which forced long-time president Hosni Mubarak to step down.
“It was necessary to start immediately building infrastructures including roads, harbours, airports and electricity stations as well as introducing legislative amendments creating favourable atmosphere for investments.”
Al Sissi, an ex-defence minister, took office in mid-2014, a year after he led the army’s overthrow of unpopular president Mohammad Mursi following massive protests against the Islamist leader. Mursi is a senior official in the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Since Mursi’s toppling, Egypt has experienced a string of deadly militant attacks in several parts of the country mainly in the Sinai Peninsula.
In his Saturday’s address, Al Sissi vowed to press ahead with a relentless campaign against terrorism.
“We have managed to break the back of terrorism. We are continuing this battle without laxity,” he said.
“We are going ahead with achieving progress and stability.”
Egypt suffered a security breakdown that battered economy following the anti-Mubarak revolt.
“While confronting black terrorism, we have not forgotten that our ultimate aim is to rebuild the Egyptian state and build a democratic, civil and modern state,” Al Sissi read from a text, departing from his habit of improvisation in public addresses.
He urged the parliament, Egypt’s first in more than three years, to join hands for what he called the “aim of defending the Egyptian state.”
The assembly, which holds unprecedented massive powers, is led by Al Sissi’s loyalists.
“We should not forget that we succeeded in aborting a conspiracy,” he said, implicitly referring to the Brotherhood rule. “We have to be aware of those who do not want for this country to be an exception in a troubled region.”
Al Sissi added that since he assumed power, Egypt has been able to regain its regional and global influence, which had dwindled under his predecessors Mursi and Mubarak.
“The challenges facing this country make worry and fear legitimate. However, the scale of unprecedented accomplishments ... makes hope inevitable.”
Al Sissi’s motorcade to the parliament building in central Cairo drove along almost empty streets, a rare scene in the populous city. Security forces were deployed on roads leading to the parliament and in the nearby Tahrir Square.
