Shoukry: Egypt backs organized change to achieve Mideast youth aspirations

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Egypt backs organized change which achieves the aspirations of millions of youths in the Middle East and maintain safety and stability of the national institutions of their countries.

"The experience of the past five years showed that weakening national state institution creates political and social vacuum and enables sectarian and terrorists militias as in Syria, Libya, Iraq and Yemen," Shoukry said in a keynote speech before the 2016 Saban Forum: Challenges for the Trump Administration in the Middle East.

Shoukry said that Egypt has managed to restore its regional role and achieved aspired change though the most promising program for political and economic reform in its modern history.

This is the first participation for an Egyptian minister as a speaker in this important forum, said the foreign ministry's spokesman Ahmed Abu-Zeid.

The top diplomat reviewed in his speech the constants of Egypt's foreign policy toward the Middle East and its governing principles in addition to the Egyptian leadership's vision for addressing the crises and conflicts in the region, said the spokesman.

Shoukry said that the change wave which engulfed that region in 2011 came to shift a refused reality that lasted for decades. He noted that several countries rushed to support this swift and chaotic change which resulted in troubles in the Middle East states.

His speech tackled also Egypt's vision on the Syrian crisis, saying that Cairo's stance on this issue is based on two pillars: the first is to maintain the national unity and the territorial integrity of the Syrian state and to preserve its institutions from collapse; and the second is to support the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people by reconstructing their country through an acceptable political resolution for the crisis that allows reconstruction efforts.

As for Libya, Shoukry reiterated Egypt's commitment to implementing a UN-brokered agreement and to urging the presidential council to form a national accord government to be more representative for all 
parties in the country.

Shoukry renewed Cairo's support for establishing a Palestinian independent state, stressing the importance of resume negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel. He cited President Abdel-Fattah ElSisi's initiative for backing any next talks between the Palestinians and Israel.

The top diplomat asserted Egypt's keenness on working with the coming US administration to combat several challenges in the regions

Source: MENA