Prosperity promised

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President Hosni Mubarak has renewed his promise to the nation that constitutional reforms are forthcoming. Addressing army troops stationed in Sidi Barani in the Western Desert, Mubarak said, "the nation's march towards democracy will continue to move forward." Next year, the president said, is the date to achieve constitutional amendments that aim to widen the role of parliament in supervising the government and enlarging the responsibility of the government in running state affairs which are mainly the prerogative of the head of state.

Mubarak expressed confidence that on a parallel track, the nation "will continue to further improve its economic performance... attracting more investments... providing more job opportunities... and increasing exports."

Mubarak used his address to reaffirm a much reiterated stance about the specific role of the army. "The Egyptian army will only defend Egyptian territories, national security and strategic interests."

Mubarak's speech was coupled with a set of press statements offered to the semi-official Arabic dailies and weeklies in which he stressed his national and foreign policy guidelines of peaceful co-existence, wide scale economic liberalisation and carefully measured political reforms.