BEBLAWI TO FORM NEW EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT NEXT WEEK

       Cairo, 4 Ramadhan 1434/ 12 July 2013 (MINA) – Interim Prime Minister Hazem el Beblawi will form the new government in Egypt next week after the military coup in Egypt. 

       Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA), Beblawi said, “I will not pursue a partisan way in forming the government,” and added that he would talk to the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing Freedom and Justice Party, Salafist Nour Party and National Salvation Front which struggles for Mohamed Morsi’s retaking his position. 

       Beblawi said he would take into consideration four main criteria in appointing ministers and said he would prefer professionally competent, hardworking, reliable people with a clean qualification.

       He stated that harmony among cabinet members was important for the country to come over the difficult situation. 

       Interim president appointed by the army Adli Mansour designated Beblawi to form the government.

Hazem el-Beblawi Profile

        Hazem el-Beblawi has been appointed prime minister of the transitional government led by Egyptian interim President Adly Mahmud Mansour.

        The government was set up after the head of the armed forces, Gen Abd-al-Fattah al-Sisi, on 3 July suspended the constitution, ousted Islamist President    Mohammed Morsi and later announced that the interim leader would remain in office until fresh elections.

       Mr Beblawi, 76, supported the 2011 revolution against Hosni Mubarak and was appointed finance minister in the military-backed interim government that followed.

       He formed the Egyptian Social Democratic Party after the revolution.

‘Remedy for tyranny’

       According to BBC Monitoring reports, Mr Beblawi is known for his liberal views on the economy and supports a free market system in Egypt.

      He studied economy and law at Cairo University and received a doctorate in economics in Paris in 1964.

      He later taught at academic institutions including Cairo University and the American University in Cairo.

      Mr Beblawi headed the Export Development Bank of Egypt from 1983 to 1995 and served as United Nations undersecretary-general between 1995 and 2000.

        Egyptians know the interim prime minister through his columns in the Al-Ahram newspaper and his books on political economy.

        Mr Beblawi resigned as finance minister in October 2011 over the government’s handling of Christian Coptic protests in which dozens died.

       “Despite the fact that there might not be direct responsibility on the government’s part, responsibility lies, ultimately, with the government,” he said in October 2011.

       His resignation, however, was rejected by the then head of Egypt’s armed forces, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi.

       In September 2012, he warned that “political democracy is not a treatment for all diseases” although “at least it is a remedy for tyranny”.

       In May this year he said: “The Egyptian economy is eroding, the current subsidies pattern can’t continue.”

      Mr Beblawi is expected to follow a pragmatic line in economic matters as interim prime minister. (T/P06/E1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)