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Wednesday, August 25, 1999
In the name of God, the Merciful, the compassionate Our sons, Egypt’s youth, Brothers and Sisters, When I see this rally of Egypt’s youth who are teamed up together by a common pure love of their homeland, I feel that tomorrow, God willing, will be better and that Egypt’s progress will be sustained until it has attained its goals. I have come today to talk to you, to talk to Egypt’s youth, to me, is to look into prospects of a better future. This means a reading of Egypt of the 21st century, Egypt of tomorrow that looms ahead through your ambitious aspiration for a powerful homeland. Through you, youngmen, prosperity grows, hopes flourish, determination becomes stronger and a more auspicious atmosphere prevails you are the even-invigorating spirit of a rising nation that currently seeks to restore its standing in the sun building edifices for the present and the future. The October generation, that fulfilled its great responsibility, has saved our homeland and restored each inch of occupied territories, rectified its path in order to release all individual and community potentialities and sustained Egypt's stability. This generation has achieved for Egypt just peace thus enabling it to dedicate its efforts to development and construction, to establish the state of institutions, to open the doors to wider participation, to make the building of the homeland a common responsibility of all the powers of the civil society with its successive generations and individuals whatever their intellectual affiliations are. We face a new world in which progress is contingent on ability to fully understand the battles of this age. It is the duty of our youth to exert their utmost effort join the march of human progress by developing their capabilities, experiences, assimilating modern knowledge so as to be able to assume their role in the march of progress and participate in shouldering the burdens of this homeland. Undoubtedly, the responsibility of the coming generation will not be confined to pursuit of construction, but also extends to the requirement to cope with the current achievements, offering more opportunities for innovation, entrenching technology into the society and enhancing Egypt’s competitiveness on international markets through innovation, perfection and high quality. Egypt’s youth have always been the focus of our attention since we first assumed responsibility because they are the promising future of this nation, tomorrow’s power and the core of progress. Throughout Egypt’s history, they have been its throbbing heart, powerful support and the live conscience. They have constituted glorious battalions in glorious battles for independence and dignity that aimed at restoring each inch of its land. For the sake of our youth, we have rejected, since the beginning, any partial solutions to our difficult problems, and we have discussed the philosophy of partial reform. Instead, we have endeavoured to achieve a radical reform that tackles the roots of problems, to relieve the coming generations of the burden of confronting this huge legacy of accumulating problems that have remained unsolved for long years without any solution. Right from the beginning, we have refrained from self-deception by continuing to depend on governmental employment as a solution for the problem of unemployment. Governmental employment does not give youth a real opportunity for self-realization nor does satisfy their ambitions to their homeland. For the sake of Egypt’s youth, efforts have been made on the road of sustainable development over three continuos five-year plans in order to offer fruitful job opportunities that satisfy youth ambitious and benefit the country. The current growth rates enable us to create some 500,000 job opportunities annually, and this covers the needs of new comers to the labour market and absorbs a fairly good percentage of those who could not obtain an appropriate job opportunity over the recent years. But the real challenge lies in the necessity of sustaining development efforts development and increasing its rates to enable Egypt to radically face the problem of unemployment. We have also endeavored to achieve comprehensive educational reform so as to make education more compatible with a new era that depends on the flow, efficient and circulation of information in the service of the society. To this end, we have made significant studies, to be further reinforced especially in the way of making wider use of computers in the educational curricula of the elementary schools. We have also paid due attention to technical education and to requalifying teachers to be more capable of absorbing modern knowledge. We have also offered opportunities for students to develop this skills by enlarging school activities. However, the forthcoming period requires an overall review of educational missions prgrammes so as to provide for an abundant number of scholarships in specialization related to information technology and its various application, it is also required to expand of the scope of scientifically research and provide all safeguards for its freedom. Brothers and Sons, Egypt’s youth. We seek as one of our top priorities in the up coming period ,to enhance the ability of the Egyptian universities, institutes and educational institutions in general to provide modern education that promotes the individual skills, builds up his personality, teaches him proper reasoning and enhances his capability of dialogue, discussion and the acceptance of other opinions. on the same plane ,as we seek to evolve techniques, concept and function of education, our aim is to enable Egypt’s successive generations to cope with various challenges imposed by the rapid pace and multiple facts of progress as well as the depth of information. Unless we achieve all these goods as soon as possible, we will find ourselves in a critical situation where we will remain dependent on the intellectual and scientific innovations of others which we will have pay high price that will constrain of our ability to keep pace with this era and to compete with others. In spite of talk on globalisation requirements collapse of walls of insularity lifting of geographical barriers as well as the smooth flow of capital, information and thoughts, progress will be always monopolized by those who possess knowledge and can use it correctly, and those who can retain their own fruits exclusively for their own interests. Therefore there will be no other way ,to escape this hard fate but to foster highly skillful and talented Egyptian youth and give them access to the realms of creativity and distinction and provide them with the chance to cope with global scientific expertise and institutions. Our responsibility as regards the future requires us to exert our utmost effort so as to help our youth to enhance their capabilities for among their ranks there will emerge the nation’s scientists, leaders, intellectuals and experts in all fields. We have to search for talented and serious people in each site to bring them under the lime light and continue to develop their talents and capabilities. The progress of nations is now contingent on their ability to invest in their intellectual assets that consist of talented, serious, innovative, creative people as well as scientists and specialists in all scientific applications. We all should contribute with effort, opinion and consul on the part of the nation’s awakening requires the It also awareness of all the forces and individuals of the society. requires every citizen to assume his responsibility. It should be stressed that Egypt’s youth are the first to be called upon to participate in this responsibility. They must enlarge the scope of their interest in their nation’s problems and they are called upon to provide voluntary input in the service of their society. They are also called on to widely participate in political affairs through public elections and those of unions, organisations, associations and syndicates to which they affiliate this participation can make such organization orient to the service of society and the entirety of their members rather than a limted minority that fulsely claims the right to speak on behalf of the masses. In the forthcoming period, we will not hesitate to make such changes or reforms that enhance the participation of citizens in public life without detriment to the country's supreme interests at this critical stage of our contemporary history. Comperhensive awakening can be achieved through the serious participation of every man and woman, through the efforts of all the civil society institutions besides consistent domestic and foreign policies of the state. The ultimate objective of any successful foreign policy is to promote the standing of the nation, protect the its interests and sreve the gools of the masses. Brothers and Sons I know the magnitude of the suffering of considerable numbers of youth who search for a suitable house despite the efforts exerted by the government and both the private and civil community sectors to provide thousands of housing units that are distributed among youth under strict terms that guarantee equitable distribution. But I expect that the coming period will require a more in-depth and comprehensive vision that enables every youth to obtain a suitable housing unit by involving existing financial institutions and newly introduced financial instruments as an effective player in funding the construction of youth housing units. In this connection such units are to be offered for ownership by youngmen, to be repaid with reasonabie interest on long-term instalments within a new legal framework that preserves the funds of those institutions and enables them to redouble their activity in this field, while youngmen should regulary repay these soft loans. On the other hand, Egypt needs tens of thousands of small and medium-size enterprises run by rising young who can, through their educational and professional qualifications, impart a modern touch to such activities, develop their methods and raise their efficiency thus providing chances for steady success. As small and medium-sized enterprises have their own dynamics and requirements that differ from those of large enterprises, many developing countries and even developed have mobilized a considerable part of their efforts for upgrading and enhancing professional and innovative capability, of such entities by encouraging youth to participate in their various fields. In Egypt, we have marvelous examples of successful youth who have managed to develop their projects, firmly establish them in the local market and achieve good reputation that has enabled them to increasingly expand their activities. But the main problem of small and medium-size enterprises in Egypt is that they suffer from some procedures and regulations that place dozens of obstacles before their establishment. In the coming period, we have to endeavor to remove such obstacles that drain the effort and time of those who run such projects. We also should render technical assistance and expertise to successful enterprises and projects through competent governmental bodies. Egypt highly appreciates its rising and faithful youth, its strong support and live conscience. They have always proved to be dedicated patriots who never hesitated to answer the call of duty. It was Egypt’s youth that turned the incident of the exile of national leader Sa’d Zaghloul into the 1919 revolution that instilled new life into Egypt, ushering it into the era of development. They also supported the 1952 Revolution, engaged in Egypt’s battles and wars in defense of its dignity and pride, and made possible the glorious crossing in October 1973. During the last two decades, They assumed responsiblity for the most significant transformation in Egypt’s history by contributing to the achievement of the major economic transformations resulting in changing the course of national economy and overall renovation of a deterioting infrastructure. They also those participated in making a great leap that has made the private sector at present contribute more than 60% of the gross domestic. Over the past two decades, we have increasingly forged a new road amid the hardships, accumulations and problems of the past, surmounting obstacles, accomplishing impossibie mission and building a strong present that opens up brighter prospects of the future for a nation worthy of a better standing in our world. Our target has been to enable Egypt to restore its role and stature, build a strong homeland enjoying security, peace, stability, progressing and depending on the power of its successive generations. We have always motivated by trust in Allah and in the ability of this glorious people to work miracles and the ability of its successive generations to sustainprogress and to keep the national flag up hoisted high and to build the pillars of glory and life, and sacrifice their souls for the security and stability of the country. Egypt’s youth. You are our hope and your are our arm that will sustain the process of building and modernizing Egypt untill we have attained our targets, god willing, as regards the building of a strong homeland and a modern institutionalized state based on the participation of all categories, on top of which are youth. I pray Allah Almighty to preserve Egypt as a strong and stable homeland enjoying welfare, sustaining justice, resisting aggression and injustice, fearing nothing in defense of right. He is the Best Supporter. May Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon you. |
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