Mubarak warns against dire consequences of failure to make peace
Egypt-Regional, Politics, 11/15/2001

The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday asserted that Egypt was a stalwart of peace and development, indicating that Cairo has never been in the business of warmongering.

"Sceptics of Egypt's peace with Israel, such as (Avigdor) Lieberman and others, must understand that we don't build bridges and railways to be struck in wars," he told reporters at the opening ceremony of al-Fardan bridge.

He added that Egypt's attention for development was the best proof that it wasn't keen on wars, as long as its safety and territories were not threatened.

When asked if the newly-opened railway could be part of a project to revive the Orient Express line, Mubarak said he was always optimistic about the fusion of peace into development. He said the line could be extended to el-Arish and Rafah.

"When peace between Israel and its neighbours had been achieved, the line could be extended all the way to Turkey.

This is a proof that Egypt is a campaigner for peace and not the opposite," he said.

Mubarak played down the belief that the US support for Middle East peace was a political ploy to drum up support for its coalition against terrorism.

"I still insist that solving the Middle East crisis was vital in the fight against terrorism. Unless peace prevails, Arab people will continue to feel frustrated at the US support for Israel," he said.

He also warned that neighbouring countries can obtain devastating biological and chemical weapons to offset the imbalance of power with Israel in the region, but he added that this could have catastrophic consequences in the long term.

Mubarak said he agreed with French President Jacques Chirac's proposal to form a new forum for negotiations.

"We support any initiative to revive the stalled peace process. Once again I emphasige that unless peace could be reached now there will be very dire consequences in the future," he said.

Commenting on tentative plans to abolish the Ministry of Economy, President Mubarak said the new adjustment was still being considered, indicating that its purpose was to serve public good.

"We plan to establish a ministry for foreign trade to be in charge of activating Egyptian exports. This is a vital issue for the economy and we have not yet reached the targeted levels of exports," he said.

The President added that the Central Bank would be given maximum independence and would continue its supervisory role of banking activities.

When asked about shortcomings in the BOT system, President Mubarak said he personally had some reservations regarding the implementation of this system.

"The purpose of adopting the BOT system is to encourage Egyptian exports. I don't want a repeat of the story of the company which built a power station in Sedi Kreir with foreign currency borrowed from local banks,"

Previous Stories:
  Maher calls for an international conference to discuss the issue of terrorism   (11/14/2001)
  Mubarak to reporters: Talks with Chirac to deal with ways of pushing forward Palestinian cause   (11/13/2001)
  Talks with Chirac to deal with ways of pushing forward Palestinian cause   (11/12/2001)

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