CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak hailed the commitment demonstrated by members of the ruling NDP throughout the People's Assembly (PA) elections, during his opening remarks at the annual National Democratic Party (NDP) conference on Saturday. “We meet today after crucial PA elections that the party [has been preparing] for since 2005 [through] ongoing development on the regulatory level, serious efforts to carry out its programs [for] the past five years, and [through] an ambitious program [projected] for the upcoming five years,” said President Mubarak. “I would like to congratulate the NDP on the distinguished performance of the party and its candidates during the recent PA elections,” President Mubarak added. On Sunday, a number of ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) leaders criticized the opposition forces and their performance during the recent parliamentary elections. In his opening speech marking the second day of the 7th NDP Annual Conference, the party Secretary General Safwat El-Sherif said the results of the People's Assembly (PA) elections may have “shocked the party opponents everywhere.” The NDP competitors “overestimated their own political weight on the streets of this country,” he added. The president's speech marked the conclusion of the first day of the 7th annual NDP conference held under the slogan “To Secure the Future of Your Children.” Almost 20 minutes after his speech began, many party members interrupted President Mubarak with applause, leading him to joke, “So, why haven‘t you clapped until now?” Various party members interrupted him two more times, yelling out praises, while one member recited a poem praising the president. According to President Mubarak, the results of elections proved again that “the partisan work is linked to the communication with the Egyptian street with its problems, worries and hopes.” “The party proved its openness to all new thoughts that realize the reality of the Egyptian [lifestyle, working towards] the interests of … the nation and [its] citizens,” the president stated. “With such [a new mode of thinking], we went through the 2005 elections and the most recent parliamentary polls with an ambitious program … that understands the … priorities of the citizens.” President Mubarak also said that the NDP does not monopolize the partisan life in Egypt. “We look forward to enriching pluralism, fair competition, and encouraging and seeking [these concepts],” President Mubarak said. During the speech, President Mubarak presented various social and economic reform measures that the government has undertaken in the past few years, highlighting the government plans for the next upcoming phase of legislation. Referring to the 2007 constitutional amendments, the president said “these reforms” aimed to bolster Egypt's democracy and to empower the nation's citizens. “The amendments allowed Egyptians — for the first time in history — to elect their president freely,” President Mubarak said. The NDP conference comes just a few weeks after the conclusion of the PA election runoffs. The NDP swept the polls during the last election — winning 420 out of 508 total PA seats — amid wide accusations of election violations and vote rigging in NDP candidates' favor. The 82-year-old President Mubarak has been in office ever since former President Anwar Al-Sadat was assassinated in 1981. In October, NDP senior officials said that President Mubarak would be the party's candidate for the 2011 presidential elections. However, he hasn't directly said he would nominate himself in 2011. In his speech, President Mubarak further underlined the importance of attracting foreign and local investments, saying that they would bolster economic growth. “The financial crisis shook the foundations of very strong economies across the world,” the president stated. “But the Egyptian economy has managed to [survive] because it has strong foundations.” President Mubarak called on the government to set a specific timetable for the implementation of the NDP's legislative plans. He promised he would monitor the government's performance in boosting economic growth, creating job opportunities, fighting administrative corruption, and raising farmers' living standards. Amidst tight security measures, about 4,000 NDP leaders and members from all over Egypt have gathered at the Cairo International Conference Center to discuss the implementation of the party's annual plan, to accredit the yearly report issued by the general secretariat, and to authorize the final accounts and estimated budget of the party. The three-day conference tackled the NDP's general party policies and also discussed the changes that the party chairman will make to the criteria required for party members seeking to serve in the higher commission, the political bureau, and the general secretariat. During one of the conference sessions, Assistant Secretary General and Chairman of the NDP Policies Committee Gamal Mubarak said that the party had managed to realize several achievements over the past five years, outlining the importance of investments in the party's plan for the next five years. According to Gamal Mubarak — President Mubarak's younger son — the government will gradually implement a financial subsidy system to replace the semi-subsidy system that has been utilized for several decades in Egypt. “The application of the new [governmental subsidy] system will also depend on the ability of the government to control prices,” Gamal Mubarak said. At another session, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Aboul-Gheit presented some foreign policy challenges, explaining the impact of the possible separation between North and South Sudan on Egypt's share of the Nile River water. The amount of Nile water that Egypt uses each year has been regulated by a water share agreement that was first signed in 1929 by various countries situated along the famous river. “Based on the [Nile water share] agreement, Egypt receives 55.5 billion cubic meters of water annually,” Aboul-Gheit said. “Sudan also gets 18 billion cubic meters of water according to the same agreement, [which means] that southern Sudan has to share this amount of water with the northern part of the country.” As for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Aboul-Gheit said that the situation in Palestine has been slowly diminishing, and that Egypt has been working hard to bring the Palestinians and the Israelis back to the negotiating table. “Egypt strives to help the Palestinians build their own independent state with the borders of June 5, 1969,” he said. “All international powers understand Egypt's demands in this regard.” Gamal Mubarak, the son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak greets attendences of the sessions of the 7th Annual Conference of the National Democratic Party in Cairo. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
