49th anniv. of reopening world’s top waterway for int’l navigation

By Sarah Saad  
Egypt marked yesterday the 49th anniversary of the reopening of the Suez Canal to international navigation on June 5, 1975, eight years after it was closed in the wake of the 1967 Israeli aggression on Egypt. The reopening of the canal ended a series of losses of the global trade worth $7 billion, at 1970s prices. Following Egypt’s victory in the glorious October 6 War 1973, late president Mohamed Anwar Sadat issued directives to the officials at the Suez Canal Authority to draw up an integrated plan to clear the canal from remnants of the war, in co-operation with the Armed Forces. This had, successfully, led to the reopening of the Canal, with the attendance of delegations from almost all world countries and heads of international shipping companies. The dock of the Suez Canal Administration Building in Port Said hosted a solemn historic ceremony on June 5, 1975, during which Sadat announced to the world the reopening of the canal for navigation. Field Marshal Mohamed Abdel-Ghani el-Gamsy, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces at the time, signed the document handing over the canal from the military to a civilian administration, namely head of the Suez Canal Authority at that time, Engineer Mashhour Ahmed. Sadat boarded the “Sixth of October” destroyer on the first trip through the Suez Canal after its reopening, from Port Said to Ismailia. The following day, Sadat attended the valiant celebrations of the Suez governorate marking the resumption of navigation in the canal and gave the signal to begin the crossing of the first convoy from south to north, heading from Suez to Port Said. In his historic speech during the announcement of the reopening of the Suez Canal, Sadat said:  “The son of this good land – who constructed the canal with his sweat and tears as a link between continents and civilisations, and crossed it with the souls of his righteous martyrs to spread peace and security on its banks – reopens it today for navigation, as a source of peace and an artery of prosperity and co-operation among people.”