Rabie : Egypt would never give up sovereignty of Suez Canal or its assets
Chairman of Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) admiral Osama Rabie stressed in a international press conference on Thursday that “it is never possible to give up the sovereignty of the Suez Canal or one of its assets,” amid an ongoing controversy over a draft law to establish a fund to reinforce the Suez Canal’s financial position.
The fund, to be established in accordance with a bill presented by the cabinet and passed in principle by parliament earlier this week, aims to help the SCA deal with emergencies, absorb external shocks, and enhance its contribution to the national economy, Rabie asserted.
The SCA stressed that the canal and its management will remain wholly owned by the Egyptian state and subject to its sovereignty, and the entire staff of the Canal Authority, including employees, technicians and administrators, will remain Egyptian citizens.
The aim of establishing a fund owned by the Canal Authority is to increase the authority’s ability to contribute to the sustainable economic development of the Canal Authority facility and develop it through optimal utilization of its funds in accordance with the best international standards and rules to maximize its value,” the Cabinet stated earlier.
It emphasized that the fund will contribute to enabling the authority to confront crises and emergencies that occur as a result of any exceptional circumstances or bad economic conditions, noting that all the fund’s accounts are subject to the supervision of the Central Auditing Organization, calling on citizens not to succumb to these lies, while drawing information from its trusted sources.
The House of Representatives’ (HOR) Monday session sparked debate due to the discussion of a proposed bill on amending some articles of Law 30 of 1975 on the Suez Canal Authority system which calls for transforming the authority into an independent fund.
Even though the bill has only attained initial agreement from the HOR, and still has to undergo additional hearings and procedures before being officially approved and passed, it was used to promote corruption allegations against the government and the HOR.
In this context,Chairman of the Suez Canal authority (SCA ) Osama Rabieemphasized in International Press Conoferanc that in light of the current economic conditions the world is witnessing, and given the challenges facing the Suez Canal including the decline in global trade rates as an impact of the repercussions of the Coronavirus, the fluctuation of crude oil prices and its repercussions on the costs of shipping various commodities and goods, it’s extremely important for the HOR to approve such a bill.
Moreover, he pointed out that resources of the fund won’t affect the financial surpluses the authority contributes to the general budget, and that the excess money remaining with the authority after paying off the general budget’s share will be used to invest in global projects during the next period.
On the other hand Admiral Rabie sent a message of reassurance regarding the canal’s navigation statistics during the year 2022
As it is expected that the Suez Canal will set new and unprecedented records throughout the history of the canal to achieve the highest annual transit rate for transit ships, with 23,869 ships crossing through, and the highest annual net tonnage of 1.4 billion tons, recording the highest annual revenue of $7,9 billion, surpassing all of them. the numbers previously recorded
ِAdmiral Osama Rabie explained that the navigational reports during the year 2022 detected a large boom in the number of ships crossing the canal, to record, according to expectations, the highest annual transit rate ever, with 23,869 ships crossing compared to 20,694 ships crossing during the year 2021, an increase of %15.4 while the total net tonnages amounted to approximately 1.4 billion tons compared to %10,5 in 2021
Stated George Safout spoksman of Suez Canal Authority
