After President Abdel Fattah El Sisi took the constitutional oath before the House of Representatives at its new headquarters in the Administrative Capital, marking the start of a new presidential term, Egypt entered the stage of realising hopes and ambitions and reaping 10 years of comprehensive and sustainable construction and development at all levels and in all parts of Egypt, despite global and regional challenges.
President Sisi’s taking the constitutional oath from the Administrative Capital is not an ordinary event by any standard, as it is considered an announcement of the New Republic. It is a republic of science, culture, arts, peace, stability and security. It’s is a republic that sums up the amount of hard work, sincerity and achievement that has taken place in recent years, and what the coming years will bring for Egypt and the Egyptians.
In his third term, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi seeks to complete the process of comprehensive development that he began in 2014, after succeeding in restoring the state’s elements of comprehensive power that declined after the 2011 January Revolution, when the national economy deteriorated and the state was politically isolated. The President also seeks to expand social protection for the middle- and low-income people from the consequences of economic reforms.
The next six years are a new station for completing the comprehensive renaissance project despite the difficulties. The new presidential term begins amid many challenges facing Egypt and the outbreak of crises on its borders. The turbulent situation in Sudan and Libya, the continuation of the Israeli war on Gaza, and the disruption of navigation in the Red Sea, as well as the negative repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the global economy — all have had their negative influence on Egypt.
Amid these challenges, the president’s priorities during the next phase are to continue providing social protection, alleviating the citizens’ economic burdens, reducing prices, reaping the fruits of development achieved over the past years, and working to build the Egyptian character at all educational, health, and social levels.
The economic file will be strongly present during the new term of President Sisi, and we all saw how he saved Egypt from its recent economic crisis, and succeeded in attracting foreign investments that provided the state with huge dollar flows.
We can say that in the third presidential term, Egypt will enter the economic take-off stage after completing the restructure of economy. It will also witness a focus on industry, whether operating faltering factories or building new ones, in addition to expansion in the agricultural sector.
The continued improvement of the level of the Egyptian citizen will be strongly present in the next six years, after the previous stage achieved a major breakthrough, whether in eliminating slums, improving citizen health through health initiatives, or raising the standard of living of rural residents through the Decent Life Presidential initiative.
Despite the promising and positive signs, the coming years will not be easy for Egypt and the Egyptians. The economic challenges facing Egypt are not over yet.
It is true that foreign investments worth billions of dollars have begun to flow into Egypt, but the state will need to make the most of these investments and remain attractive to foreign investors.
Also, the current war on Gaza will continue to have negative repercussions on Egypt and may ultimately lead to the creation of new political realities in the region.
But President Sisi is capable of dealing with all of these issues, provided that there is popular support for him. He works for the sake of the people who trusted him and gave him their vote in the previous presidential elections, specifically the last, with overwhelming popular support from Sinai in the east to Siwa in the west, and from Alexandria, Damietta, Rosetta and Port Said in the north to Aswan in the south, passing through Upper Egypt.
Mohamed Fahmy is the editor-in-chief of The Egyptian Gazette and Egyptian Mail newspapers
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