The NDP's annual conference ended on an upbeat note, as President Mubarak called for new reforms. Nevine Khalil reports President Hosni Mubarak dropped several bombshell announcements to an unsuspecting audience on Sunday. In a few words, Mubarak announced that many of the military injunctions under the Emergency Law will be annulled and Egyptian mothers who are married to non-Egyptians will have a good chance of passing their citizenship on to their children. The country let out a collective sigh of relief, upon hearing the last third of Mubarak's closing address at the first annual conference of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). Announcing the two presidential decrees in vague terms, Mubarak did not go into detail on either decision which would still maintain some Emergency Law decrees, require complicated regulations for citizenship and exclude the children of Palestinian fathers. Mubarak announced the "annulment of all military decrees ordered by the military governor [the prime minister] under the Emergency Law, unless they are necessary for maintaining law and order," he told the hundreds gathered in the auditorium and the millions watching his address on television. "This will promote trust between the citizen and the state and uphold justice, equality and respect for human rights." Mubarak's statement was greeted with loud applause from his live audience of NDP members. But it was his next announcement, proclaiming that the government will draft a new law allowing "Egyptian mothers married to foreigners to pass on their citizenship to their children," which garnered a standing ovation at the gathering, including from Mrs Suzanne Mubarak sitting in the front row. Mubarak said that he had just instructed the minister of interior to approve the requests by Egyptian mothers married to non-Egyptians to grant their children Egyptian citizenship. Both steps are seen as part of the NDP's initiative in promoting democracy, equality and human rights. During the previous legislative session, the NDP succeeded in drafting and passing legislation creating the National Council for Human Rights and amending several articles in the penal code. Speaking in his capacity as chairman of the NDP, Mubarak also welcomed the party's initiative to draft a "Citizenship Contract" detailing the basic rights and duties of each individual, "to encourage citizens to exercise their political rights". Moving onto the subject of political reform, Mubarak alluded to the possibility of reforming the laws regulating political parties and activities "in order to enhance the performance of political parties and boost political life". He called on all political parties to launch a "national dialogue which would pave the way for a code of ethics regulating relations among political parties, and the principles of competition and campaigning". The NDP chairman also stressed the need to "decentralise provincial government and invoke fresh blood in political activities." All these ideas and decisions are deeply rooted in the NDP's "A New Way of Thinking" -- the slogan adopted at last September's eighth NDP Congress as the ruling party's new philosophy. For Mubarak, holding annual NDP conferences instead of irregular congresses is "a turning point which heralds a new beginning and philosophy for the NDP." At the end of the ruling party's last congress, held in September 2002, the NDP had announced its "new way of thinking, future vision, contemporary discourse for party work, and promotion of the role of the youth in the march towards prosperity", said Mubarak. All this, he continued, was to "achieve comprehensive development -- which will always be the cornerstone of our party work". The NDP chairman described his party's message as "to convey the aspirations and ambitions of the people; utilise a scientific discourse in dealing with problems; and apply an advanced mode of thinking in drafting policy and translating ideas and visions into action." Over the past 12 months, according to Mubarak, the NDP has sought to transform its words into action through a mechanism focussed on reforming the party from within, as well as rebuilding its grassroots support. "The party opened its doors for all views regarding the problems we are facing and how best to resolve them," added Mubarak. The party was reformed using "scientific methods to evaluate the efficiency of the party and government's performance, reach out to the people and listen to their perspectives". All this was channelled to become "the people's will to propel forward the march towards modernisation and development". Several new sectors in society are being incorporated, continued Mubarak, as well as other political parties and forces "in a constructive dialogue serving the interests of the country and create a healthy multi-polar political life based on democracy". Not limiting its scope to other political parties, the NDP is also trying to bring in NGOs, professional syndicates and labour unions into the political process. Mubarak also encouraged civil society to play a bigger role in mapping the future, and indicated that the laws regulating white collar syndicates will be amended "to modernise" these bodies. "'A New Way of Thinking' is much more than a slogan," Mubarak told party members, "it has become the cornerstone for modernising and developing modes of thinking as well as action." The theme of this year's conference, "A New Way of Thinking and the Rights of Citizens First", is rooted in the NDP's "strong belief that the government and citizen should work hand in hand to realise future reform and development plans." In order to achieve the goals of the NDP's new philosophy of development, Egypt must interact and stay well connected to the outside world, stressed Mubarak. The NDP's goal is to promote peace in the Middle East through the creation of a Palestinian state; the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty to its people; and the revival of joint Arab work through the reform of the Arab League according to the initiative presented by Egypt. Focussing once again on domestic reform, especially on the economic plane, Mubarak said that Egypt's technology infrastructure must be improved in order to better the country's human resources. This should be achieved through reforms in the education and health sectors, as well as curtailing population growth, giving women and the youth greater roles. He noted that the government should "take the initiative by encouraging the young to shoulder responsibility in party and government posts. This will result in a mixture of experience and new vision; accumulated knowledge and enthusiasm for the future," stated Mubarak. Egypt still needs to work on several issues in order to improve its economic reform programme, such as controlling population growth, increasing exports, encouraging foreign investment, modernising industry, opening new markets, developing the tax and tariff system, stabilising the foreign currency market and expanding the role of the private sector in development. However, Mubarak was quick to point out that "the government interfered swiftly to rectify any [negative] side effects which occurred recently as a result of economic reform." He cited the example of "the sudden rise in the prices of some commodities", which sparked government intervention to control soaring prices. "To continue our march towards development, the participation of the citizenry, parties and government must be effective," urged Mubarak. His rallying cry was: "Let's look towards the future together and prepare ourselves and the coming generations to participate in creating it."
