• MB News
  • February 9, 2012
  • 6 minutes read

Al-Shater: Muslim Brotherhood Welcomes International Economic Partnerships Serving Common Interests

Al-Shater: Muslim Brotherhood Welcomes International Economic Partnerships Serving Common Interests

 Al-Shater, Deputy Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) said that, "It is too early, as yet, to judge the new parliament’s performance. It takes time to accurately evaluate such matters, especially since the legislative and oversight roles have barely started. For example, parliament has summoned the Prime Minister and Interior Minister twice already. This is a new and major shift in the performance of Parliament. Further, the Interior Minister faces questioning and indictment of Representatives".



With regard to the relationship between the military and the parliament, Al-Shater said, in an interview with Al-Jazeera’s Ahmed Mansour in the “Bila Hodood” (Without Borders) TV program, Wednesday evening, “The Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting the Constitution – not the Muslim Brotherhood – is responsible for determining this relationship”. He pointed that the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and the Muslim Brotherhood have researched many of the experiences of American, European and Asian countries, and found that the next challenge will be to find the balance between confidentiality for the armed forces and the transparency that is one of the demands of the revolution.



"We are all for strengthening and properly re-structuring our homeland’s institutions," he added, pointing out that the country is in a state of continuing revolution, and that the people refuse to return to the repression and tyranny they suffered in the past sixty years.


With regard to the continuing media war being waged against the Muslim Brotherhood and the effectiveness of such wars, he said, "Despite the fierce and vicious war waged by some print and broadcast mass media, the Egyptian people side with the Muslim Brotherhood in all elections, both syndicate and general elections. We are confident of the maturity and good political sense and awareness of the Egyptian people, who refused to be influenced by malicious media and sided with the Brotherhood".


"We fully believe that honest and professional media outlets will side with the people’s spirits and conscience", said Al-Shater.


He denied saying that Egypt is on the brink of economic collapse, pointing out that Egypt is suffering from an economic problem and that it will be pre-occupied with the economic issues, in the near future, "In this context, I have sought solutions for this matter in several round the world research trips, and I met more than 30 state ambassadors who sought to talk with us".


Al-Shater called for Western countries to bear the responsibility and moral obligation of supporting the construction of Egypt’s infrastructure, just as they assisted the defunct former regime in demolishing it.


Al-Shater rejected the idea of taking loans, as promoted by the West to the Egyptian government, and said, "We will only succeed if we depend on ourselves as Egyptians in building a strong economy for Egypt".


The MB’s Deputy Chairman said, "We are open to the whole world, ready for any economic partnership agreements that would achieve common interests, does not sacrifice people’s rights and are based on mutual respect, pride and dignity and achieve the requirements of the next phase in Egypt".


He added that the vision of the Brotherhood for the current situation is based on ending lawlessness, making a boom in the Egyptian economy, dealing with the recession caused by instability, and fighting corruption. He also explained that he, together with a team of MB and FJP as well as other experts are preparing comprehensive programs to bring about tangible progress renaissance, and to address the issue of systematic looting that took place under the defunct former regime, whose effects persist to date.


He added that rumors about Mubarak not being transferred to Tora Prison hospital for lack of modern equipment is both misleading and untrue, stressing that separating the Tora detainees and prisoners is not necessarily an effective solution, and there must be strict public oversight.


Al-Shater revealed that Tora Prison hospital was overhauled and renovated last year, and that the subject will be debated by MPs in Parliament.