Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi went ahead with his scheduled visit to Damietta on Sunday, opening extentions to the MOPCO fertilizer plant and several development projects, as the hunt continues for the two black boxes of an EgyptAir flight that crashed off the coast of Egypt on Thursday.
The official purpose of Sisi's visit was to open additional facilities for fertilizer production, as well as a new hospital, a furniture factory and housing and river transportation projects.
However, the president took time to update the public on the latest developments in the operation to salvage wreckage, bodies and the two black boxes of the EgyptAir flight MS804, which crashed toward the end of its journey from Paris to Cairo.
Speaking at the opening of the new MOPCO facilities, Sisi said that salvagers responding to the MS804 crash had been supplied with equipment from the oil industry, including a submarine that can descend to 3,000 meters.
"It moved today in the direction of the plane crash site because we are working hard to salvage the black boxes," he said.
He also told listeners that Egypt would remain resiliant in the face of challenges, and that the nation has benefitted from the return of stability.
“We should tell Egyptians that stability brings good rewards. We stopped for three years, and after these years, relative stability has been achieved, resulting in us moving forward,” Sisi said.
He also said it was important to consider how the media presents Egypt to the world, a possible reference to the damage caused to Egypt's image by high-profile tragedies, such as the recent MS804 crash and the loss of a Russian passenger jet over Sinai in October.
Sisi was joined on his Damietta trip by Petroleum Minister Tareq al-Molla, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and several other officials.
The delegation headed first to the MOPCO plant, which is expected to see an increased output of 20 million tons of fertilizer per year now the new facilities have been completed. Each facility has an estimated capacity of 650,000 tons of fertilizers annually, and the additional capacity is expected to help tackle the shortage of cheap agricultural fertilizer in Egypt.
Sisi then headed to a pavillion near an area allocated for river transportation projects implemented by the Damietta Port Authority. The prime minister was scheduled to review work on river transportation, as well as visiting several new housing projects in the area.
Sisi was also due visit the site of the first factory in Damietta's "furniture city", a project taking up 331 feddans along the international road leading to Port Said governorate. Digging work for the factory is currently taking place, with army engineers in charge of the project.
Sisi is also opening a hospital for the armed forces in New Damietta city, the ceremony conducted via video conference. The hospital has 200 beds and can deal with a wide range of medical cases.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
