The ruling NDP begins its fifth annual conference on Saturday, placing the emphasis on social justice against a background that includes the international financial crisis, Gamal Essam El-Din reports A total of 2,700 delegates from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) will gather at the NDP's fifth annual conference between 1 and 3 November. Convened under the banner "A New Style of Thinking for the Future of Our Country," the event will include an address on the first day by NDP Chairman President Hosni Mubarak, focussing on the challenges facing Egypt. NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif says Mubarak's speech will focus on the party's vision and strategy in dealing with the global food and financial crisis. "Mubarak's speech," he revealed, "will explain the party's strategy to safeguard Egyptians against the vagaries of the crisis." The conference will also review progress made towards implementing President Mubarak's 2005 presidential election programme. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif is scheduled to deliver a speech on Sunday highlighting the government's success in implementing the programme three years after it was announced in the summer of 2005. El-Sherif will open the conference on Saturday morning with a speech reviewing the party's performance over the past 12 months. He will be followed by Zakaria Azmi, NDP assistant secretary- general for financial affairs and chief of presidential staff, who will inform delegates of the party's financial position. Last year, Azmi said the cost of the conference had topped LE18.7 million, compared with LE3.5 million in 2006. He also indicated NDP revenues in 2008 would be LE23.4 million, leaving a LE7.1 million deficit on estimated spending of LE30.2. "The shortfall," he announced, "would be covered by donations from NDP businessmen members." Azmi will be followed by steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz, the party's secretary for organisational and membership affairs. He is expected to showcase membership figures, which have grown from less than one million in 2002 to over three million. The latest reports show that 65 per cent of the members are less than 40 years old, 30 per cent are between 40 and 60, and just five per cent are above 60. Ezz will also highlight the NDP's success in clinching four parliamentary by- elections held in the summer. The NDP now has 308 MPs in the People's Assembly. That Ezz has been scheduled to speak on the opening day of the conference appears to be a calculated move to end rumours that he is being sidelined by the party's top leaders following public outcry against his alleged monopolistic practices. The conference's most important debates will be led by Gamal Mubarak, President Mubarak's 45-year-old son and chairman of the NDP's powerful Policies Committee. He will begin by reviewing The Strategic Vision of the Ruling Party, a wide-ranging report compiled by the Policies Committee and which covers poverty eradication, economic trends, citizenship rights and democratisation. He is expected to emphasise that economic and social reform must go hand in hand with political reforms, which will include greater decentralisation, a strengthening of the number of women in parliament and of the role of professional syndicates, and upgrading litigation procedures relating to personal status. In a move aimed at countering opposition criticisms the report raises a number of "what if" questions. "What if the NDP backtracked on economic reform in response to criticism?" it asks. The answer provided by the report is stark. State revenues would be stuck at LE70 billion, rather than the LE105 billion generated in the fiscal year of 2007/2008. The report goes on to argue that the economic reform programme has allowed the state to boost subsidies on basic foodstuffs, including bread, to an unprecedented LE21.5 billion without a negative impact on the state budget. Fiscal discipline, it continues, has helped reduce the budget deficit from 9.5 per cent of GDP to 6.8 per cent and $13.2 billion in foreign direct investments in 2007/2008 as opposed to just $3.9 billion three years ago. Gamal Mubarak has criticised "those who said the NDP's economic reform programme and the state's abandonment of its social roles would push Egypt to economic collapse". The NDP, he says, remains committed to pushing ahead with serious economic reforms. "We should read the global crisis correctly and insist on pushing our economic reform programme forwards," he argued, adding that "reform always faces challenges but it also promises good opportunities and returns." While pledging that the party will not leave its ambitions hostage to the status quo, Mubarak is also expected to urge MPs to ready themselves for the 2010 parliamentary elections. The third day of the conference will include a press conference with Mubarak at which, inevitably, questions will be asked about his political ambitions. President Mubarak and his son have repeatedly denied that they are seeking to create a family dynasty in Egypt. Ahead of the conference El-Sherif strongly refuted the claims that there are internal divisions within the party's ranks and that leadership changes are imminent. "Change happens only during the party congress held every five years and not at annual conferences," he told journalists. (see p.16)
