August  27, 2002

President Mubarak’s address to professors and students of Egyptian universities 

The honorable members of the teaching staff
and dear students of the universities

    It gives me pleasure to meet you once more to continue discussing the national and international causes that are of interest to us all, reviewing together the challenges facing us all at this critical stage the entire world is undergoing, especially the Middle East region of which we are part.

    It is a transitional stage of transformation characterized by restlessness that precedes the stability of the new situations; it requires reaching an international and regional agreement about recognising its features and defining its nature, its factors of strength and weakness and its impact on the rules governing international relations as well as its potential dangers that pose a threat to the entire society of humanity.

    Undoubtedly, Egypt as a state of a distinguished and pivotal position in this world, undertakes a special responsibility in steering the march the world society is taking at this stage until situations are settled and the various states, big or small, come to know without exaggeration the extent of change that took place at the international arena, and until the peoples of the world in all continents can utilize whatever comes of chances and potentials from the new developments and the negative factors accompanying the stage can be curbed.

    Naturally, a special responsibility is there for you, the youth of Egypt, to undertake for reaching a sound, objective vision to these situations and prospecting their direction through the discussions you hold at universities, the research you conduct under the supervision of your scholar professors, the scientific and cultural activities you perform throughout the academic year, and your following-up to the dialogues made by the cultured circles in the entire world about the new phenomena on the world scene and their various impacts on relations among nations and peoples.

    All these, upgrade your ability to reach a more accurate vision to the regional and international situations in the world of to-day and to-morrow, as well as the current ideas and perceptions.

    Thus, you will be armed with the ability to formulate an advanced contemporary vision that can assimilate the nature of the new transformations and keep pace with their tunes and motion.

    Dear sons:

    For the rising generations to be able to perform this task, they have to come to the fore and take up duties of this responsibility. The society as a whole, with its institutions as well as its official, popular, political, scientific and cultural organisations, should provide them this opportunity and qualify the youth to crystallize a clear vision to what is going on around them in various regional and international circles.

    It should also qualify the youth to play their indispensable role in handling the developments that require a growing ability of dealing with them in a way that secures protection of our national interests, defending our legitimate right and maintaining our civilization and culture amid these transformations.

    Here comes up the keenness of the state as well as the political and popular institutions to creat the proper climate for the youth to assume this maximizing role, open vistas for them to undertake responsibility in performing their national and human tasks, remove curdles on their way in various institutions and to implement necessary reforms to enable them performing a growing role, whether in official or non-official institutions, national or partisan, as long as they are committed to legitimate and moral rules.

    Thus, the political society can invigorate its youth, consolidate its forces and maximize its ability to undertake its role in this new world.

    Dear brothers and sons:

    No doubt you live the developments the political life in Egypt undergoes, realize their importance and significance and feel our keenness to widening the circle of participation in the political activity in Egypt so that it can honestly reflect aspirations of the broad base of the masses.

    And naturally, all legitimate Egyptian parties are to bear a major part of responsibility in this concern and to be keen to keep up its ability of upgrading their ideologies, programmes, mode of action, openness to all what is new, and entrenching the proper democratic dialogue based on admittance of variation of visions and attempts as a means for reaching a rational national agreement. Needless to repeat that the most important factor of success in this endeavour is the utmost commitment to the common interest, away from biddings and seeking narrow interests.

    This will lead to continued cohesion between the leading groups entrusted with the responsibility of the public work and masses of the people whose interest comes first and should be highly esteemed under any circumstances. They have the first and last word in definining the objectives of the national work and its priorities in every stage.

    I repeat here what I previously cited about the responsibility of the Egyptian political parties in implementing a full and serious upgrading of their policy of work and the nature of their role for attracting the youth to political participation and activating the partisan life in Egypt, in a way that fulfills our goal in the political reform and keeps pace with the other sides of reform, and to be achieved by the majority party and the other lawful parties as well

    I believe that all parties realize the urgent need for development and innovation of ideology and practice. They have to seize any available chance to move without delay towards this goal to induce a new spirit in the Egyptian partisan life that can reflect on the efficiency and effectiveness of the political work at various levels. Only by doing so, the parties will realize their mission and message at this historic turning point.

    This leads us to talk about the political and social reform drive in which we have covered a long distance throughout the past two decades, and we still have to continue in this endeavour to add to and build on the reform that has been achieved and give more concentration on creating new job opportunities for the ambitious youth.

    This necessitates the improvement of the investment climate and supporting the productive private sector whose role is indispensable for achieving progress.

    To sum up, I say again that we have to double the attention to the increase and upgrading of production for increasing numbers of commodities and services and improving the public services offered to citizens and especially the income-limited brackets.

    Dear sons: the hope of Egypt, to-day and to-morrow

    Whenever I look at and listen to you, and the youth rallies I meet in factories, farms, and the various educational and services institutions all over Egypt, I believe more and more in Egypt’s ability to assume its proper role at this critical stage.

    My conviction is great in the competence of the youth to attain leadership positions in various fields.

    The youth should not wait to be invited to enter the national work arena. All what they can demand is to be given the road to embark, hurdles to be curbed from their way, guardianship over their thought and action lifted, without undermining their abilities and potential energy that qualify them to take a pioneering and effective role.

    Go ahead, may Allah guard your steps, for taking up the banner of the growing responsibility and undertaking its duties.

    Pay attention to qualify yourselves for performing this national duty. Nothing is more useful than knowledge and the ability to crystallize the proper vision of situations, at present and in future, and to be ready for accepting the multiple views and attempts, in a sound democratic frame that focuses on the content and the core, and does not stop at stiff forms and moulds, but goes into the depth of the situations and to be based on the scientific approach of thinking, exertion of effort and sweat for changing dreams to reality, converting visions into tangible facts, that can bring about welfare to the glorious people of Egypt.

    I can’t conclude these remarks that came at the outset of my meeting with you before I refer to the important role of Egyptian universities and institutes in steering the transformation process and preparation of the youth, as these venues are provided with scientific potentials, creative capabilities and resources where youngmen learn lessons in the scientific thinking, the organized work, ethics of the organized team work, and the dialogue management among various views and orientations, where there is no restriction on thought and opinion, but a broad forum for the diversity of views and their exchange in a sound democratic frame.

    You have the best example in your professors with their keenness to follow the scientific approach in research and thought and their focus on what is beneficial to the whole society apart from narrow factional perspectives. May God guard you, and lead us all towards realizing the best to our nation.