My sons and daughters the young people of Egypt;

Ladies and gentlemen;

Honorable guests;

I am so much pleased to talk to you today while I am overwhelmed with mixed feelings of pride and dignity for being with you on this precious part of our land which is dear to all Egyptians. We are here together on the banks of our internal Nile River; the gift of Allah to us which is flowing in its everlasting trip from the south to the north carrying for the Egyptians life and welfare. It is an eyewitness of the history since the dawn of human civilization appeared here in our good Upper Egypt.

It was the will of Allah that the land of Egypt be the cradle of civilization and human history when our ancestors started building and reconstructing the earth with all devotion and determination. Therefore, history has made them immortal in the annals of human dignity where their marks became an icon for all humanity not only for the Egyptians.

Ladies and gentlemen… dear guests… the great Egyptian people;

I have all confidence in the capabilities of the Egyptian people and their genuine will to build their homeland in a way that is commensurate with the greatness of this nation and with their aspirations.

The loyal and steadfast residents of Upper Egypt are in the vanguard of all Egyptians who are proving throughout different times that they are the guards of our nation as their spirit were inspired by the greatness of our ancestors.

On this land, King Menes unified the two countries and King Ahmose defeated the Hyksos and restored land and honor. This part of Egypt has granted the homeland several heroes and symbols. Here in Upper Egypt several important examples in our history were born such as Omar Makram, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Makram Ebeid and Abdel Rehman el-Abnoudy along with Abbas Mahmoud el-Akkad.

My sons the residents of the good Upper Egypt;

I know well that you did not get what you deserve and I am fully aware of the magnitude of your suffering over decades from accumulated problems that affected your life at the social, economic and political levels. I appreciate your sacrifices due to this suffering and your steadfastness as well. But since we have started together; the State and people, moving ahead towards rebuilding the modern Egyptian State, it was a must that Upper Egypt and its young people be on top of our agenda of national action in this phase.

This is why I have decided that the second national youth conference be held in Aswan city to discuss frankly and with credibility all visions and proposals to overcome the challenges facing our people of Upper Egypt, with emphasis on challenges facing the young people. We need to outline together; State and people, realistic solutions and practical measures that help us attain the hoped-for goals of development and achieve a real progress in the political, economic and societal domains through making optimal use of all available opportunities and resources depending on scientific and realistic planning to manage properly these resources. Out of this vision, my instructions to the government were clear that we should work for improving the living conditions of the residents of Upper Egypt at all levels.

Over the past 30 months since I have taken office, several achievements were realized in Upper Egypt as a real beginning towards a real development in Upper Egypt.

As for social protection and minimizing poverty, we have started in 2014 a project for minimizing poverty and upgrading the standard of living in the governorates of Assuit, Sohag and Qena through extending loans to the low-income families so that they would start small-scale projects. The project's total cost hit around 147 million pounds.

Also, up to 1,700 villages were included in the Takaful and Karama (Solidarity and Dignity) program which channels up to 82 percent of its allocations to the governorates of Upper Egypt at total families hitting 1.1 million in number. Allocations for school nutrition in Upper Egypt increased to cover more then 9,400 schools at total cost of 850 million pounds in the academic year 2016-2017.

As for improving infrastructure for educational buildings in Upper Egypt, up to 3,258 classes were completely renovated.

Total allocations that were paid out from the Fund for Supporting and Financing Educational Projects in Upper Egyptian governorates over the past 30 months hit 380 million pounds. Also, around 172,000 teachers have received training within the framework of the projects for technical development of teachers given the fact that the teacher is the cornerstone of the educational process. Out of the State's keenness on supporting technical education up to 1.950 billion pounds were spent to upgrade technical education schools in Upper Egypt over the past two years.

As for the electricity sector, Beni Suef power plant was set up at a total capacity of 4,000 megawatt and total investment cost of around two billion euros. Meanwhile, West Assuit power plant was set up at a total capacity of 1,000 megawatt and investments of around 746 million dollars.

Regarding low-cost housing, up to 105,000 residential units were built in Upper Egyptian cities at total cost of 14 billion pounds. Also, more than 193,000 feddans were allocated in Aswan for reclamation as part of the 1.5-million feddan project. Up to 370,000 feddans were allocated in Meniya and 43,000 feddans were allocated in Qena along with 280,000 in the New Valley.

As for the domain of upgrading roads and means of transportation in Upper Egypt, up to 4.2 billion pounds were spent for setting up roads and flyovers in Upper Egyptian cities. Also, three billion pounds were allocated for upgrading the railways system in Upper Egypt.

All this is a first step that attests to the genuine political will that is seeking to achieve real and comprehensive sustainable development in the governorates of Upper Egypt.

My sons and daughters the young people of Egypt;

The successes that were realized at the first national youth conference in Sharm el-Sheikh that was held in October last year and the first monthly youth conference that was held in Cairo last month that were represented in opening viable channels of contact between the State and the young people, led me to take the decision of holding the second national youth conference in Aswan city to discuss the challenges facing Upper Egypt and means of overcoming these challenges.

After serious discussions and several proposals that were meant to outline a comprehensive vision for the decision maker about the needs of the society; and especially the young people, I have decided the following:

• Setting up a higher authority for the development of Upper Egypt with a view to upgrading public services at total investments of five billion pounds over the coming five years. 
• Completing all development projects in Nasr al-Nuba and Wady Karkar area by the end of June 2018 and allocating 320 million pounds for this purpose. 
• Launching a national project for establishing integrated industrial zones for small-scale industries in all governorates of Upper Egypt within the coming six months. 
• Maintaining efforts for expanding social protection measures to include creating jobs for families included in Takaful and Karama program through launching intensive-labor projects. 
• Enhancing efforts for improving the quality of life in Upper Egypt in the domains of health care, education, transport and housing. 
• Accelerating the implementation of the Golden Triangle project Qena-Safag-Qusair which is aimed at setting up mining industrial zones and international tourist resorts so that the area would be an internationally investment-attractive zone. 
• Turning Aswan into a capital for African economy and culture. 
  Ladies and gentlemen.. honorable guests;
  
  The Egyptian State is confronting the biggest challenge in its history while it is working hard to maintain its existence and rebuild its institutions on national and democratic bases at a time when all development efforts are being sapped in the inevitable confrontation with the two threats that jeopardize all development and stability efforts; namely, terrorism and corruption.
  Terrorism became an immense danger threatening the whole humanity as it seeks killing and destruction while corruption is prevailing and affecting all reconstruction efforts through squandering public funds. Therefore, I confirm that the State is adamant in maintaining its relentless war against terrorism and corruption until uprooting both of them.
  Killing and destruction can not be the venue for building anything as religions can not be set up this way.
  If Egypt would fall down it will never stand up once again. I have cited for you examples of some countries that fell down 40 years ago and up till now they did not stand up again. It is impossible that only the police and army are fighting terrorism. The whole society should take part in the war against terrorism.
  My sons and daughters the young people of Egypt;
  I have all confidence in your enthusiasm and loyalty to your nation. I believe also that you are the symbol of the future. I tell the young people of Upper Egypt that you are the sons of this good land so be like your grandfathers a rock on which all plots for harming this nation will be dashed. You should be aware that all ages of prosperity and progress in Egypt were launched from your land so you should be in the vanguard and lead the movement of development and construction. Work hard for building your country and take lessons from your grandfathers. Preserve your homeland through adhering to you identity and culture.
  Your dear nation is waiting for you to turn the dream into reality and to make the history that is appropriate for you and for Egypt. Through you Egypt will live long. Long live Egypt.. Long Live Egypt.. Long Live Egypt.
  Thank you