Published: January 12, 2012
Egypt's Leadership Remains Crucial Factor to Stability Across The Region
By Mina Fabulous 
Deputy Secretary William J. Burns today announced that President Obama has proposed a $1 billion cancellation of Egyptian debt to support Egypt's economic recovery during an interview with Lamis el Hadidi of CBC TV.
"It is our aim now that we have legislative authority to pursue that from the U.S. Congress, to try to look at ways in which that billion dollars that are freed up thorough the debt cancellation can be used to create jobs, especially for Egyptian youth, and also to provide the vocational and technical education that will equip Egyptian youth to compete for those kind of jobs and to perform them." -Mr. Burns
President Barack Obama meets Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Photo: Wikimedia Commons |
Mr. Burns said he was delighted to be back in Egypt, which he has been fortunate to visit many times over the years. He said it is obviously a very important moment for Egypt, as it seeks a successful democratic transition as well as an essential economic recovery.
"It is an important moment for the U.S.-Egyptian partnership as we seek to do everything we can to support that important transition and that important economic recovery." -Mr. Burns
He noted that the success of Egypt's transition matters enormously not just to the United States, not just to Egypt, but to the entire region. He added that Egypt's leadership remains a crucial factor to stability across the region, and certainly the United States has no more important partner across than Egypt.
"In terms of the economy, we are committed to doing everything that we can to be helpful. We have a longstanding, very important bilateral assistance relationship that we look forward to continuing, to building on the progress that we have supported the Egyptians in making over the decades in health and education and other areas." -Mr. Burns
He stressed it is also vital to deal with the urgent problems that Egypt faces today, particularly job creation. He said the U.S. have also proposed loan guarantees and an Enterprise Fund, which are designed to help small and medium sized enterprises in Egypt, bearing in mind that Egypt has demonstrated over the last decade an ability to achieve quite impressive economic growth - 7 percent, on average, over the last decade.
"The problem, as Egyptians know better than Americans, is that the benefits of that growth were not spread widely across society. So, the goal for Egyptians today after the revolution, it seems to me, is inclusive growth, and that requires progress, and job creation and, in particular, helping small and medium size enterprises, and that is something we can contribute to." -Mr. Burns
Mina Fabulous follows the news, especially what is going on in the US State Department. Mina turns State Department waffle into plain english. Contact Mina through NewsBlaze.
Search News
