CAIRO: In an unprecedented move, Gamal Mubarak, head of the National Democratic Party's policies committee, addressed the internet-savvy youth in an online video forum Wednesday night. During the three-hour interactive discussion, Mubarak answered questions about a range of topics including education, economic reform, inflation, subsidies, social welfare, corruption in the public sector and unemployment. Mubarak expressed his optimism for Egypt's future, saying development is apparent in Egypt's different industries, even though some levels of society, particularly young people, haven't benefited from it. "It's true that not all of the people have benefited from what happened. Over the past five years, 90 percent of the Egyptian economy has moved to the private sector. This happened because we opened the door for national and international enterprises, he said. He acknowledged the fact that unemployment among 18- to 30-year-olds remains at 20 percent, which consequently means this group are likely to be the most angry and pessimistic. The discussion showed Mubarak surrounded by 230 students from Egyptian universities and research centers at the NDP's headquarters in Cairo. Questions were submitted via email, Facebook, or directly on the website www.sharek.eg. This "open dialogue is being organized "to identify the views of young people and their aspirations and ideas on key issues and challenges facing Egypt and discuss the best ways to address them, according to the NDP's official website. While the approach targeting tech-savvy youth was commended by observers, reactions to the discussion varied with heated debates on cyberspace. Mubarak's signature confident fashion resonated well with many viewers. One Facebook user, Omniyah Elshafei wrote on Sharek's Facebok group, "Personally, I was very impressed by Mr G. Mubarak's initiative and found it very positive. . I trust many of my same generation hope that we can sooner rather than later be part of the politically civilized world. If anything, it showed to the world that we can be just like them in expressing our opinions in a civilized and educated manner. Great job, I am so proud [sic]. On the same page, user Muhammed Ramzi wrote, "Mr Gamal, the people want to feel the change, not on the policy level but actual change in our everyday lives in things such as education, employment and health . people want to have a good life. Away from online venues affiliated with the NDP, the tone was different. On its official website, Development and Reform Party, founded by Anwar Esmat Sadat, said they have one question after this speech, "Who is fooling who? According to the opposition party, a distorted image of Egypt and the performance of the government was presented in this open dialogue as "suddenly you find a new Egypt not the one we are living in . an Egypt without any problems. Even though they approve of Mubarak's new approach, they hope it would have been more transparent and open to people with different political ideologies. Blogger and activist Wael Abbas told Daily News Egypt, "It was useless . It's all none sense. It's all about publicity, he did nothing except talking about things that has nothing to do with youth. "In addition . he said that online websites are for expressing opinion freely and [then] they go and arrest bloggers when they do that. So in my own opinion this speech is nothing. On the other hand, blogger Mostafa Hussein of Muftasa.net, refused to comment on Mubarak's online discussion. "I can't comment about this speech because it was a complete mess and it's meaningless. If I did comment I will be wasting my time and he doesn't deserve it, he told Daily News Egypt. -Additional reporting by Mariam O. Abdel-Hamid.
