Egypt’s foreign minister praised economic reforms underway in the country, stressing that the country’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, remained the right man for the job amid continued threats to security and stability.
“Of course the president has been effective in creating security and stability and economic progress, implementation of economic reform,” Sameh Shoukry told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble on Monday during the EU-Arab League Summit in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt. “And we are seeing the first returns of that reform.”
Shoukry listed a number of major investment projects underway, including the construction of new cities and transport infrastructure for the country’s booming population. The president is overseeing “doubling of road networks, 12 cities that are being erected, incredible amounts of almost two million units,” he said.
Sisi, who took power in 2014 following a military coup that overthrew and arrested the democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, is likely to win constitutional changes allowing him to dramatically extend his tenure in power.
Egyptian lawmakers are pushing ahead for a change to the country’s constitution that would enable Sisi to stay in power until 2034. Currently, the former armed forces chief is due to stand down after completing two four-year terms in 2022.
Asked if Sisi was the right man for the job, Shoukry replied, “He is and continues to be.”
