Egypt inaugurated a major extension of the Suez Canal on Thursday. According to President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, the $8.2 billion New Suez Canal project, which was completed in just one year, will be the new hope for an economic turnaround in the region.
Egypt, Arab World's most populous nation, staged a show of international support with the spectacular inauguration of the New Suez Canal. Among the VIP guests were His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, French President Francois Hollande, Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, King Abdullah of Jordan, the emir of Kuwait and the king of Bahrain.
During the inauguration, Al Sissi, the former armed forces chief who led a military coup two years ago and ran for president as a civilian last year, declared that Egypt would fight against terrorism, Gulf News noted.
"Work did not take place in normal circumstances, and these circumstances still exist and we are fighting them and we will defeat them," Al Sissi said after signing an order allowing ships to cross the New Suez Canal waterway. "Egypt during this year stood against the most dangerous terrorist threat that would burn the world if it could."
For the past few weeks, Egypt has been hounded with messages, slogans and propaganda that are commending the virtues of what the government is calling the nation's "gift to the world." As the officials said, the New Suez Canal will double shipping traffic and change the world, The Washington Post reported.
"The Egyptian people are rewriting history," Suez Canal Authority chairman Adm. Mohab Mamish said during the inauguration ceremony. "If the people long for life, then destiny must respond."
Egypt's mega project, New Suez Canal, also aims to restore national pride and revive the economy after years of unrest. According to The Gleaner, the government hopes for another historic moment when it unveiled a US$8.2 billion extension of the waterway funded entirely by Egyptians, without foreign aid.
After four years of strife and the overthrow of two presidents, the New Suez Canal proves that Egypt is back. And the expansion will be the first step in a new area of development and will be the major global trade route as one of Egypt's top foreign currency earners.
"It is opening infinite horizons. It is going to be handled outside the ossified bureaucracy that has been holding us back," Cairo's American University professor of econonixs Adel Beshai said. "What is being done there is done with extreme efficiency and a scientific approach."
Meanwhile, economic experts are optimistic about Egypt's New Suez Canal project. As said by economic expert Fakhri al-Feqi, based on the feasibility studies, the revenue of the canal is expected to increase from $5.3 billion to $13.5 billion over the coming eight years, Al Arabiya News has learned.
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