By NNN-KUNA,
Cairo : Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Sunday terrorism and instability were still posing grave risks and real challenges to the Middle East region.
He made the statement in an address to the nation on the anniversary of the victory of October 6, 1973, against Israel.
“This generation saw dramatic changes in our regional sphere from the second Gulf war to the war against Iraq,” Mubarak said.
“The region is still witnessing numerous crises, tensions, sectarian divide, bloodsheds and instabilities,” Mubarak noted, citing as examples the situations in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Sudan’s Darfur as well as the West-Iran standoff over Iran’ controversial nuclear program.
“The last two decades saw unprecedented transformations including the end of the multi-polar world order and the emergence of uni-polar one. Globalization, with its merits and demerits, turned to be a universal phenomenon.
“The world is still suffering from instability of its collective security, economic, financial and commercial systems.
“The emergence of new regional economic and political blocs can give rise to new multi-polar world order,” the Egyptian president pointed out.
Dealing with the domestic situation, Mubarak said the last two decades saw the Egyptian government and people joining forces against terrorism and managed to stifle out this grave phenomenon.
“Egypt was able to protect its civil peace and strengthen ties with Arab countries.
“We were also able to cut by half our external debts and build a modern and expanding infrastructure.
“We have introduced remarkable reforms to the various production and service sectors, thus enabling our national economy to accommodate the growing population and the external pressure.
“The Egyptian population grew from 43 million people in the early 1980s to some 80 million at present,” he pointed out.
“Egypt has no choice but pursue its economic liberation policy and follow the example of other economies which adopted open-up policies such as Russia, China and East European countries,” Mubarak underscored.