Mubarak calls to accelerate new reforms
Egypt, Politics, 9/24/2004

At the end of the second annual congress of the National Democratic Party NDP, President Hosni Mubarak, the NDP Chairman called on the government to accelerate the implementation of new reform policies and legislation.

Addressing the closing session of the conference, President Mubarak said reform is basically a communal process involving all classes of the society including the political parties and the civil society bodies in order to forge a self-propulsion force that is able to upgrade the working patterns in various fields.

Mubarak said the NDP has become more dependent on its energetic youth and has been increasingly allowing equal chances to women in every walk of life.

The new stage with its local, regional and international challenges prompt a radical re-shaping in the state-versus-citizen role, he said, citing the latest economic changes as an example.

The customs duties and tax reforms have been employed to allow the private sector keep the biggest quota of its resources in order to beef up investments, boost the production and exports, create more jobs, and enhance the per capita income in a way that is commensurate with "our vision of a comprehensive social justice," said Mubarak.

President Mubarak said the recent decision on reducing customs tariffs would provide L.E. 3 billion that could be used for backing the role of society with the aim of achieving more development.

The President added that the new vision proposed by the NDP for tax reform would make the new tax system one of the effective elements towards raising the living standards of individuals and families.

He said the new vision would make available additional resources estimated at LE 2 billion for the private sector, in order to push forward the investment wheel and provide more new jobs, in addition to LE 2 billion for the family sector with the aim of achieving a direct rise in the income of the Egyptian family and activating market movement.

The President said that he would refer the tax reform bill to the People's Assembly and Shura Council by the beginning of the coming parliamentary session.

On investments, President Mubarak said the NDP recently proposed a new philosophy to promote the investment process, adding that such philosophy was based on creating a new institutional entity bringing together all bodies likely to increase investments, unify and facilitate investment systems and procedures.

He said that Egypt's vision towards attracting more investments and increasing exports required adopting clear and developed agricultural policies aiming at protecting agricultural lands and achieving a productive leap.

Mubarak said he had directed the NDP and the government during the first annual NDP conference, to start dealing effectively with the issue of protecting agricultural lands, which became threatened with random urban expansion as a result of progressive population increase.

President Mubarak said the new economic policies require more developed policies in the integrated human development domain, based on giving due attention to several sectors, foremost among which are education and health care.

President Mubarak hailed achievements made by the NDP in the fields of freedom of expression, respect for human rights, expansion of political participation and entrenching the concept of citizenship, pointing out that such achievements constituted a sure guarantee for strengthening the pillars of democracy and expanding participation in partisan and political life.

He stressed the importance of exerting more efforts towards openness to the outside world in order to benefit from world potentials and experiences, with the objective of enhancing national efforts for more development and modernisation.

Mubarak said at the end of his speech that Egypt would maintain its firm stance towards dealing effectively with international issues with direct links to Egypt's national security, the most important of which being the fight against terrorism and against the possession of weapons of mass destruction in accordance with unified standards and within a framework further boosting respect of international legitimacy. The president stressed that Egypt would continue to shoulder its national and regional responsibilities which requires pursuing intensive efforts to address Arab and African issues that are of significance for national security, mainly Palestine, Iraq and Sudan.

Previous Stories:
  NDP paper stresses women's rights   (9/22/2004)
  Reform is on top of the agenda of the National Democratic Party in Egypt   (9/22/2004)
  Mubarak: reforms will be economically and politically interlinked   (9/21/2004)

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