Egypt will soon start on the Suez Canal zone project after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ratified a decree. Sisi said in his speech during the inauguration of the new Suez Canal, the zone project aims to create an industrial and logistical hub in the vicinity of the Suez Canal. "Evil was trying to harm Egypt and the Egyptians, and to halt its development," said al-Sisi. The circumstances in which the new Suez Canal project took place were not normal, said the president, adding that Egypt was fighting terrorism. "We will continue to fight terrorism, and we will win. There is no doubt," he asserted. Adding that the new Suez Canal project cannot be seen simply as an engineering achievement, he said: "Egyptians needed to feel, in a year's time, that they have gained more confidence and security." "As shown by the people's happiness today, they needed to show themselves and the world that they can [accomplish such a project]," he said. "We have to be one bloc, to face the challenge" he said, gesturing to the grand imam of Al-Azhar and the Coptic Orthodox pope, who are sitting side-by-side in the audience. Al-Sisi thanked "the martyrs who have sacrificed themselves for Egypt and for its stability...army, police and innocent civilians" and thanked all those who participated in the new Suez Canal project including the engineering division of the armed forces, the armed forces, and the Suez Canal Authority. Towards the end of the speech, the first commercial ship to cross the new canal passes by, sounding its horn. The Egyptian president has hailed the "great effort" exerted over the past year to construct the new Suez Canal, describing it as "a gift to Egypt and the world for the sake of humanity, development, construction and reconstruction." "In the past year or two, Egypt has not only provided this project; history will record that Egypt stood in the face of the most dangerous and terroristic ideology," al-Sisi said. "It was the Egyptians who stood up and faced these ideas, by presenting the real forgiveness of Islam and Muslims." Source: Ahram Online
