 Thank you very much and thank you all for being here this hour of the evening after a very long day, after this wonderful meal, which makes me feel that anything I'm going to say right now, I'm going to get away with it, you know, so this is kind of a relief, you know. Whatever I'm going to say is going to be fine with you. I'm going to talk about the topic that we've been talking about one session after the other, the new Egypt challenges and achievements. And because I knew that I was going to give this after 9 p.m., I thought it would be safer that I write down what I was going to say just to read it, you know, hopefully not to fall asleep in the middle of the speech. Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me first to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude for being invited to address this distinguished gathering. It is indeed an honor and a privilege for me to give this keynote speech. I'm also much honored to be talking from this platform, the historic Apollo Room, Apollo Hall, and I'm keen to be talking and sees this opportunity to provide you with a real image from my perspective, of course, about the challenges Egypt is facing, what we have achieved thus far, as well as our aims and objectives in order to fulfill the aspirations of the Egyptian people in freedom, stability, and prosperity. I'm also eager to convey Egypt's new vision towards its relations with the international community after the Egyptian Revolution. As you may allow me to say that Egypt as well as other Arab Spring countries resided under autocracy for many decades. Unfortunately, when democracy and freedom were spreading in many countries across the globe, especially in Eastern Europe after the end of the Cold War, authoritarianism was, I know how it is written but I don't know how to pronounce it so, being authoritative it means, was consolidating itself in many other spots, including some Arab countries. The Egyptian, Yemeni, Libyan, Tunisian, and Syrian regimes were investing heavily in their security apparatus to avoid any snowballing democratization that may be incited by this marvelous and sweeping wave of change. These regimes missed many golden opportunities to initiate extensive political and economic reforms and made the wrong choice to strengthen their grip on power through systematic exclusion and repression. Since the toppling of the oppressive regime in Egypt as well as in other Arab Spring countries, we were conscious that the way forward will not be smooth, but we believed that the clock can never be set back and that the positive energy unleashed by the people who arose independently in Tahrir Square and throughout the Arab world has the capability of turning the challenges we face into opportunities, the fears that grip us into hope. Like many believe, Egyptians are not passive and do not tolerate injustice and oppression. This might be the case for brief moments in Egypt's history but this is not the trend. For those who do not buy what I'm saying, please tell me where else in the world do you find the people that have undertaken five major revolutions within the last 200 years? We've gone through a revolution early in the 19th century during Mohammed Ali's time against the French campaign, then the Arabian Revolution, 1919 revolution, 1952 revolutions and 2011 finally, 2011 revolutions. Such people could definitely lead a sixth and a seventh one if someone took them back to an autocratic path. So if we start talking about the challenges to the democratic transition and I'm going to concentrate on Egypt of course, the first challenge that we had to tackle delicately and with maximum sensitivity is the role of the military, the topic we just talked about a couple of hours back. We have seen two different models of the military intervening in politics during the Arab revolutions, the first in Egypt and Tunisia and the second in Libya, Yemen and Syria. The presence of the army in the political life during the early phases of transition was a fact and necessity. Both Egypt and Tunisia were able to manage efficiently this situation and restore the civilian order thanks to the professionalism and awareness of the military institutions in both countries. On the other hand, we witnessed devastating results on how regime can use its army against his own people in Libya and Syria. Putting the foundations for a clear, sustainable, professional civil military relations is an issue that we have to address thoroughly to consolidate the civilian aspect of the states. Yet, it may take some time for this framework to mature and develop. But I still believe, as I just said a couple of hours back, that we achieved a very good progress in this regard and we will have to go through the rest of the transition hopefully very smoothly. The second set of challenges related to the problems inherited from the previous regimes, especially the rampant corruption and the violation of human rights. Such a situation unfortunately affected all the structures of our institutions. The institutional decay that spread widely, if not handled and dealt with swiftly, may jeopardize the whole transition process and causes regression. That is why the most urgent task of the newly elected leadership is to rebuild democratic institutions, to act in a more transparent and accountable manner so that we can achieve the good governance that we are aspiring to. This is a priority for us. The third set of challenges comes from the fact that the Egyptian revolution, as any other revolution, has its enemies. Counterrevolutionary forces and remnants of the previous regime, penetrating throughout the state, constituting what we term as the deep state. We borrowed that term from our Turkish friends. As well as other external actors are fueling unrest and to destabilize the country and derail the democratic process by using illicit money used to finance illegal violent activities. In the same context, we are facing a serious challenge by some irresponsible media outlets adopting in our views subjective rather than objective positions. This does not mean that the administration is above criticism on the contrary. Criticism is and differences in opinion are definitely acceptable as long as they are substantiated. Unfortunately, some outlets misuse the value of freedom which the administration upholds and act against all norms, ethics and codes of conduct in a way that does not even occur in any democratic country and without being held accountable for their black propaganda. What is more surprising and even disappointing is that some of the media have provided cover for provoking violence, inciting hatred and avoided condemning violence explicitly. Despite the complexity of challenges, we are determined not to allow anyone to derail our democratic quest. The Egyptian people, youth, old, young, men and women, paid a huge price for their freedom and dignity and will never accept under any circumstances whatsoever to abandon what they believed in and achieved thus far. The message of firm commitment that I am transmitting to you today comes from our conviction that the will of the people eventually reigns as it did in all democratic and developed countries like your country like the United States. Achievements of the Egyptian Revolution, this is the second point I'm going to address. In order to make our democracy work and to overcome the sets of challenges that I have elaborated, Egypt has embarked on a serious effort to rebuild democratic institutions on solid basis. Egypt went through five major electoral exercises since the revolution. That is two constitutional referendum, two parliamentary elections and one presidential election. I can talk about three main landmarks achievements of these exercises. First Egypt successfully elected for the first time ever in its history as civilian presidents after decades of military control. I wouldn't say military for General Sama not military rule but military control. That's probably a more accurate term. This is a main cornerstone in building the modern civil states that Egyptians and the world aspire for. Second, to establish our new institutions on a solid ground, a tremendous effort was undertaken by an inclusive constituent assembly to draft the constitution despite other claims. We are aware that some concerns emerged about the formation of the constituent assembly but the fact remains that all withdrawals from the assembly which came out to be 20 out of 100 members took place only a few days before the adoption of the drafts and were indeed motivated in my opinion as an eyewitness by reasons not mostly related to the articles of the constitution except very few exceptions. Such a crucial step was fundamental in order to define the rules of settling differences and to put the basis of the political system in a way that responds to the needs and demands of the Egyptian people and to accomplish the values of the Egyptian revolution, liberty, dignity and justice. It is worth noting that the disputed articles in the constitution that some estimate to be 10, some say 15, some say 20, but that is out of 236 articles are not related to how the state is run or how the checks and balances are defined. This is very important for minimizing the time of the transitional period which is crucial for the country to move forward. The terms to discuss and even change disputed articles are well defined by the new constitution. Once the House of Representatives is elected and functioning, freedom and justice party will not close the door for serious discussions to amend the document and hopefully achieve a wider consensus. Nonetheless, it is important to emphasize that this Egyptian constitution was the most progressive constitution in the Egyptian constitution of history, especially in the field of rights and freedoms. This is important to explain because of the misconceptions that have extensively been proponed on how bad this constitution document is and the most significant among the accomplishments of this constitution can be summarized as follows. When it comes to freedoms, for example, freedom of religion and belief which is a valuable right that the state shall protect, the constitution prohibits the denigration of religious messengers and prophets, guaranteeing freedom of expression by affirming freedom of the press and the ban of censorship on media, freedom of association by allowing citizens to establish political parties and NGOs only by notice as well as the right to organize peaceful demonstrations. When it comes to the rights, the constitution preserved and promoted rights in many articles. Women rights, for example, and empowering women is also a pillar of the constitution. The new constitution guarantees equal opportunity for all male and female citizens without discrimination. States sponsored childcare services as well as constitutionally enshrining the rights of women who are divorced, widowed or single breadwinners. The issue of political participation of women after the revolution is considered of great importance. Female candidates and female electorate increased considerably after the revolution. We know that there are concerns regarding some criminal acts of violence and harassment against women. This harmful practice is totally prohibited and cannot be justified or tolerated by any means. And I'm sure that the cabinet is now working on a draft law for combating harassment and violence against women, but we believe that the law is not the only solution. The root causes of this problem have to be addressed squarely. A second aspect of rights enshrined in the constitution is the citizenship principle. All citizens are equal and have same rights and responsibilities. All Egyptians living in disadvantaged areas within the Egyptian territory as well as those who have different beliefs are Egyptian citizens with equal opportunities and with no discrimination based on gender or belief. The third acquisition in terms of promoting rights is the prohibition of exceptional trials and civilian trials before military courts. Prohibition of any law which restricts core rights and freedoms, affirming the right of access to information, as well as stressing the human dignity. The third achievement is the adoption of the constitution in a free and fair referendum by two-thirds majority, and thus Egypt made a huge progress in its democratic quest. Yet the completion of the transition will not happen until the elections of the new Egyptian House of Representatives are held. The Freedom and Justice Party is firmly supportive to making the upcoming elections, whenever result, a success story by providing all the necessary guarantees of transparency and fairness under full judicial supervision and with the presence of international observers. Now we can state that the democratic transition is about to be completed, hopefully soon, but our aspirations for the new Egypt go far beyond the structures. It is the operational aspects of the ideals upon which structures are built that merit our careful nutrition. If we move to our aims and aspirations, I would like to address three main issues, economy, culture, and foreign policy. In this connection, it is assumed that a major cornerstone of the new setup will have to be the amendment and fixation of the economic situation and rendering the economy to be more inclusive, thus improving the livelihood for all Egyptians. The key is to achieve higher growth, growth that creates more jobs, and growth that is shared more equitably amongst all strands of society. This will bring me back to what I stressed earlier, that economic growth cannot be sustained without a free and inclusive political environment. Also economic development, while it is an essential factor for stability, it cannot, in my opinion, substitute the lack of freedoms. As you may know, the Egyptian economy is facing financial deficit, which requires influx of funds from abroad, as the circulation of money internally would not suffice. Yet, fundamentals of the economy are solids. It is a well-diversified economy. The informal economy is broad and diverse, and we have a very large youth population, which makes our human resources the most solid basis for development in times of a knowledge-based economy. Globally, there is a condition of liquidity excess, meaning that the money is looking for investment opportunities, and Egypt has a very high potential in that regard, and it's our job to provide the environment to attract these investments, hopefully soon. It is for this reason that I invite all the esteemed participants to convey the proper message about Egypt and its commitment to democracy and freedoms. I cannot disregard, in my speech, one paramount Egyptian asset that we aim to promote, and that is culture. Our undeniable soft power has always played a crucial role in transmitting our values to the region and to the world. We are counting on this channel and investing in it to transmit our new vision based on the values that emerged after the revolution. We are striving through our model to achieve better understanding among cultures and civilizations and to bridge any gap that exists due to stereotypes. However, we clearly believe that during our quest to find and wind in common grounds, we shall also respect the culture peculiarities of our societies. In this culture context, I need to raise one specific issue that clearly emerged from the Arab Spring, which is the role of the so-called political Islam. This new dimension that was included in the political equation proved its weight and consolidated its position within the transitional political spectrum and created a new momentum for the political dynamics. We believe that this new dimension is enrichment to the political life, and we are committed to prove the ability not only of the coexistence, but also to cooperate constructively with other political actors. Exercising politics is not new to political Islam. Especially in Egypt. However, exercising leadership is indeed new, and that is why we are open to engage all possible stakeholders in this vital political process. Political Islam has been systematically excluded and demonized, and thus we will not commit this sin with anybody else. Now the question that imposes itself is about the contribution that the values of Islam can bring to humanity. Our task to promote a new paradigm is not an easy one, especially with the existence of some negative prejudices. The religious component of all civilizations represents indeed a safety net for our shared human values, within the broader context of diversity. This means that one specific set of cultural values cannot be imposed, but it should rather interact and engage with other cultures to ensure global harmony. What we propose is a new model based on the ideas, beliefs, and values entrenched in our norms and traditions. This model is comprehensive enough to provide sufficient responses to global issues related to development, combating injustice, tyranny and aggression, giving human dimension to the globalization, international civil society, combating violence, international justice and human rights. We firmly believe that it is only by a genuine, responsible and objective attitude that we can contribute together in exploring new avenues of cooperation. We trust that the great system of values that are built and consolidated the democracy in your country shall serve as a bridge of understanding and mutual respects. Can we work together to achieve our mutual interests and prosperity? Certainly. Can we succeed? Definitely. Now I'm going to shift to Egypt's new foreign policy. And since the new administration assumed its duties on July 1st, 2012, a new Egyptian foreign policy has emerged based on a solid knowledge and facts about the Egyptian national interests. This new vision has been formulated since the establishment, has been under formulation since the establishment of the Freedom and Justice Party back in June 2011. It has been under continuous development since then, and it has started to extensively see the light under the second Egyptian republic. Egypt's envisaged new foreign policy is balanced, robust and capable of fulfilling the aspirations of the Egyptian people. It is a comprehensive policy that identifies challenges and interests of Egypt, and is flexible enough to formulate creative, responsive responses in order to reach viable solutions while preserving national, regional, and international security and stability. More important, the core characteristics of this policy are the enriched values of justice, dignity, and freedom inspired by the glorious Egyptian Revolution. It is with these values, with this values-based approach that we seek to contribute constructively to human development and world prosperity. We aim at reaching a new positioning for Egypt within the region and the world. The new foreign policy is also multi-layered. It does not limit its actions to its geographical proximity, but it goes beyond that in order to strengthen relations with all responsible actors of the international community. In addition, Egypt is eager to play a proactive role within the regional and international forums and help formulate more coherent policies related to trade, environment, global warming, infectious disease, transitional organized crimes, non-proliferation, as well as other fields of mutual interest. However, due to Egypt's geographical location and cultural affiliation, it is comprehensible that the issues related to the Middle East are highly positioned on our foreign policy agenda. The past few months witnessed dramatic and accelerating developments in the Middle East region, especially with the turmoil in the Palestinian territories and Syria, as well as the near geographical vicinity in the African Sahar region. Such developments still remain a source of threat to peace, security, and stability, and represent fertile ground for future destabilization. As you may all know, our new foreign policy has been tested at a very early stage during the aggression against Palestinians in Gaza. And I can say with satisfaction and confidence that it succeeded to establish itself and its currently gathering more momentum. Egypt, as a responsible stakeholder in the region and the international community, has been engaged in this crisis since their emergence. We have been active in conducting consultations and coordinating efforts with concerned parties and other members of the international community. Egypt's role went further beyond consultations to launch specific initiatives aiming at resolving these crises and restoring stability to the region. These efforts bore fruit with a truce agreement in Palestine, and we expect further positive agreements in the new future. In short, I can summarize the objectives of the Egyptian foreign policy in the coming two years as developed by the Freedom and Justice Party as follows. Actually, four main objectives. The first one is the support of domestic growth and help getting Egypt out of the financial crisis. This is number one objective. Number two, preservation of Egyptian national security. Number three, achievement of balance, independence, and political impacts in foreign relations. And the fourth objective is the presentation of our civilization project as an international reference through which leadership can be achieved. I have much more I wish to say regarding the Egyptian foreign policy, especially the Middle East peace process, Syria and Iran. However, due to time limitation, I will be happy to elaborate more on these topics through discussions, if any, and during the rest of the events tomorrow and the day after. And thank you very much for your kind attention.