Interim President Adli Mansour said Egypt will take part in the United Nations General Assembly this month to clarify the local situation and consequences, adding that internationalization of Egyptian local issues is rejected and that he will deliver Egypt’s speech himself.
In an interview with the state-run TV on Tuesday, Mansour said, “The speech will explain nature of what is happening in Egypt. Change in regime does not happen without revolutions or coups. There was some confusion in describing what happened in Egypt as either a coup or a revolution.”
Mansour said that the ex-President Mohamed Morsy came to office through popular will, however, he did not respect voters’ will and hence he did not respect election’s results.
Concerning foreign relations, Mansour said he instructed Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy and his team to revise Egypt’s foreign relations to differentiate between the real friends and those with whom we need to respond to public call to re-evaluate relations.
He also referred to enhancement of European stance on Egypt. As for the U.S., Mansour said we await the re-evaluation announced by President Barack Obama to decide our next step.
Russia supported people’s demands from the beginning, he argued, saying it was expected since it has honorable history with Egypt. Egyptians appreciate efforts of the Russians which helped Egypt transform from agricultural to industrial society in the ’60s. We cannot forget their stance during the building the High Dam as well as the 1973 war, he stressed.
Mansour denied amendments on priorities of the roadmap, despite local and foreign challenges. He added that the ten-member constitutional committee and the one of 50 members were formed and that we will stick to the timeline during the coming phases.
The main standard in forming constitutional committees, according to Mansour, is representation of all society segments and that every segment chooses its own representative. “We didn’t intervene within the selection process,” he said.
Among the fifty figures, there were at least ten women and youth.
Regarding economic challenges facing Egypt, Mansour said inflation rate reached 8.8 percent. Unemployment rate surpassed 13 percent.
Foreign debt reached 14.7 percent until the first quarter of the fiscal year 2012-2013 (US$38.4 billion). Domestic debt reached 82.2 percent until the first quarter of the same year (LE1460.5 billion) by end of July. Foreign reserve reached US$18.8 billion by end of July.
Egyptian imports from January to April reached LE147 billion, compared to exports of US$71 billion. Trade balance deficit reached LE76 billion. Total deficit of 2012-2013 budget reached LE218 billion. Mansour said they are targetting a deficit of LE186 billion for the fiscal year 2013-2014.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
