CAIRO: Safwat El-Sherif, secretary general of ruling National Democratic Party, said Monday that President Hosni Mubarak followed the “serious discussions and reports minute by minute” undertaken during the NDP 7th Annual Conference. El-Sherif vowed in his speech marking the conference closure that the party will meet the president's expectations in “leading the second wave of reform launched…during the conference under his leadership.” El-Sherif further said the party will fulfill all the goals included in party's electoral program in 2010. “The conference [discussions]…reinforced our …commitment to the party's strategies and main objectives; on top of which is maintaining the secular identity of the state…and the principle of citizenship as the base of [the citizens'] rights and duties,” El-Sherif said. El-Sherif further said that building an institutional party capable of setting reform strategies was on top of the revolutionary change initiated by the party and a mutual relation between the NDP and the government as “two sides of the same coin.” El-Sherif called on all conference participants to interact with the people on the street and explained to them the party's program and the implementation timeframe. A total of 20 ministers took part in the conference sessions held by 11 NDP committees, reviewing the government's progress and the NDP agenda. El-Sherif's speech had been preceded by another given by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif during which he presented the government's program for the coming five years as well as its progress in carrying out the president's 2005 electoral program. Nazif vowed that his government will maintain the subsidy of bread and other basic supplies as well as achieve an annual growth rate of eight percent as per the president's instructions. “Economic growth is what helped Egypt overcome the World Financial Crisis…Egypt was among the few countries that did not get influenced by the crisis,” Nazif said. “It is time to enter a new phase of economic growth.” The other two points that Mubarak instructed the government to consider are the realization of social justice and services for citizens and the decentralization. “In order to accomplish social justice, we have to [push forward] economic progress, which can only be realized by [more] investments,” Nazif said. “There is a clear connection between…social and economic development.” Nazif further said that the government doubled the expenditure on education and healthcare services. “We faced shocks…like the high increase of wheat by three times…and the financial crisis,” he said. “How could [we face such problems] if we had no economic progress?” he asked. Nazif presented the government's achievements on all levels, saying that Egypt has a great potential to invest in industrialization. The premier announced that a new industrial zone will be established in Port Said. According to Nazif, the development rate of industrialization amounts to 13 percent. Nazif further gave a number of promises to follow all the instructions of the president in the sixth presidential year. These instructions include boosting the economic growth rates throughout the coming five years to realize “a consistent development,” raising payments and creating a balance between payments and prices. The premier further confirmed that the government will support farmers, improve education and find untraditional solutions for the beneficiaries of social solidarity and health insurance services.
