Sisi calls on all Egyptians to help in building the country

CAIRO - 19 January 2018: The third and last day of the "Tale of a Homeland" conference, to review the achievements made during President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi's four-year tenure, kicked off on Friday.

At the beginning of the session titled “Foreign policy and terrorism combat”, al-Sisi stated that the revolutions Egypt has gone though impeded the performance of the state’s institutions, the state needs 10 to 15 years to restore its stability after the two revolutions in 2011 and 2013. The revolutions ‘broke’ a lot of boundaries in dealing with the governmental institutions, and these boundaries have to be rebuilt.

President Sisi also stated that when the state’s institutions cannot perform well, it is easy to bypass them, saying, “if anyone has the ability to smuggle weapons and explosives to countries such as Germany and the USA, of course none of their institutions are well developed. Preserving the Egyptian state’s security is one of the most important strategies.”

On the rumors spread about the parliament’s election and performance, Sisi asserted that the Egyptian parliament election was free and fair, noting that this parliament had the responsibility of setting and reforming the articles of the law according to the new constitutions and this demanded great efforts and therefore “it is inappropriate to criticize the parliament in a non-objective manner.”

Sisi said that the July revolution expressed the free will of the Egyptian people, appreciating Saudi Arabia’s stance on supporting the Egyptians’ will. He said that Egypt is seeking to restore relations with European countries.

During his speech, Sisi revealed the terrific consequences of terrorism in Egypt since 2014, stating that between 12,000 and 13,000 thousand Egyptian citizens were injured as result of terrorist attacks.

He called on all Egyptians to help in building the country’s institutions, and urged them to participate in the upcoming presidential elections.

Sisi is also set to answer citizens' questions about his four years in office during the second and last session, titled "Ask the President," as part of the online initiative launched earlier in January, to enhance communication between the president and citizens.

During the first day of the conference, President Sisi said he deemed his period as a president as a “rescue mission,” and tackled energy-related discussions and Egypt’s current economic challenges.

President al-Sisi took office in 2014 after protesters toppled the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated ex-president Mohamed Morsy in 2013.

Sisi has not yet officially announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections in March.