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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi officially opened on Thursday afternoon the "New Suez Canal," the nation's flagship project to boost its economic recovery, Xinhua correspondent reported from Ismailia, about 120 km northeast of capital Cairo.
The Egyptian president signed the official document presented by the Suez Canal Authority to allow the new waterway for ship navigation.
"With God's blessings, I, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, president of Egypt, give permission for the operation of the New Suez Canal," the Egyptian leader said in his speech.
"Within one year, Egyptians exerted a great effort to offer the world and to Egypt a gift for humanity, for development, for building and for construction," Sisi added.
During Sisi's speech, the president paused while two giant ships were seen crossing in different directions through two passages of the canal amid cheers of the attendees.
Sisi gave the go-ahead signal for the national "New Suez Canal" project on Aug. 6 last year and ordered it to be completed in one year sharp.
The project included a newly-dug 35-km waterway alongside the original 190-km Suez Canal, plus a 37-km expansion and deepening of some parts of the existing one.
"The new canal is one of a thousand steps that we Egyptians are required to go through," the Egyptian president continued, adding that the establishment of the new waterway was done under unusual circumstances amid destructive terrorism.
"History will tell that Egypt faced over the past couple of years the most dangerous extremist terrorist thought that could have ruined the land," Sisi told the attendees.
The massive opening ceremony has been attended by nearly 800 world leaders and senior officials from over 120 countries, including French President Francois Hollande, King Abdullah of Jordan and King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa.
Among them are also Emir of Kuwait Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and exiled Yemeni President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Egyptian officials said the new waterway is expected to increase the Suez Canal's annual ship traffic revenues from 5.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 to 13.4 billion by 2023, attracting huge foreign investments and creating thousands of job opportunities.
"We promised the world to offer the New Suez Canal as a gift, and here we are keeping our promise in a record time, providing for the world an additional vein for prosperity," Sisi said, adding that the new water way will contribute to facilitating and developing international maritime navigation.
The Egyptian president stressed that the new waterway marks the beginning for huge development projects around the canal region that would bring vast investments to the country. Enditem
