By NNN-KUNA
Cairo : The Egyptian government called on the Palestinian factions Wednesday to reach understanding on handling the control over border crossing points in line with “signed accords.”
Government spokesman Majdi Radhi in a press briefing following a cabinet meeting here made the call.
The meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif reviewed a report on the situation in Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza Strip through which thousands of Gazans forced their way into Egypt recently.
“The reason for the problem is the Israeli blockade on Gaza Strip,” Radhi quoted the report as saying.
“The Palestinians had to find a way to get their basic needs,” according to the report.
Radhi recalled the decision of President Hosni Mubarak to allow the Gazans get the necessary foodstuffs and medicines and return to the strip “on humanitarian grounds.”
“The Egyptian border guards let the Palestinians pour into Egypt for a limited period before bringing the situation under control, the spokesman pointed out.
“Egypt is normalising the situation and rebuilding the border crossing in an orderly way with a view to preventing repetition of lawless case,” he went on to say.
Regarding the performance of Egypt’s economy, the spokesman said the economic growth rate rose in the second quarter of the current fiscal year to 8.1 percent from 6.6 percent in the corresponding period of last year.
“The economy maintains a good momentum,” Radhi asserted. “The government is planning to double the volume of domestic and foreign investment in the coming period through launching gigantic infrastructure projects.
“The projects will be put up for international tenders,” he disclosed.
The value of real estate investments rose from 163 million to two billion Egyptian pounds in the last two years, he added.