President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi directed Thursday to continue the development of all the Suez Canal Authority facilities and the waterway's navigation course, to reinforce its unique strategic status as an international trade lifeline. El-Sisi's instructions came during his meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority Osama Rabie, presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said. The meeting touched on the outcomes of the investigations into the incident of grounding the Ever Given containership in the Suez Canal. El-Sisi praised the Suez Canal Authority's management of the crisis of the grounded vessel and the success of its efforts to refloat it after its blocked navigation in the canal for almost a week. The Panama-flagged Ever Given was on its way to the Dutch port of Rotterdam on 23 March when it slammed into the bank of a single-lane stretch of the canal, about 6 kilometers north of the southern entrance and disrupted navigation in the waterway for nearly a wee
