DOHA: Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi (pictured) yesterday laughed off rumours that Qatar is going to buy Suez Canal, saying there are no secret deals between the two countries.
“Talk about buying and selling (Suez Canal) is ridiculous. It is a joke. The land of Egypt is forbidden for non-Egyptians. There is no secret deal between Egypt and Qatar,” said Mursi, in an interview with Al Jazeera telecast last evening.
He said Egypt wanted to continue good relations with all countries, including Qatar.
“What is special about our relation with Qatar is that it gave us more support in hard times… Qatar stood with the Egyptian revolution. There is mutual love and respect between the people of Qatar and Egypt,” said Mursi.
He, however, said there are some “artificial clouds” in Egypt’s relations with the UAE.
“Our relations (with the UAE) are not reserved. We are dealing them with respect. However, there is some artificial cloud, which is meaningless. We respect the UAE, all GCC people as well as Iran,” said Mursi. He said the GCC countries don’t have to worry about Egypt’s relations with Iran.
“GCC states themselves have relations with Iran. They have their embassies in Iran. Our relations with Iran are in the interest of the Egyptian people, not at the expense of others,” said Mursi.
He added that Egypt’s ties with Iran will not impact his country’s stand on Syria. Egypt has been forcing Iran to solve the Syrian crisis according to the will of the Syrian people, he added.
He hinted that his government is ready to review the security pact with Israel, if Egyptian people don’t want it continue.
The security deal has been there for 30 years and it is intended to ensure stability in the borders, he added.
He said there will be a reshuffle ng of the cabinet very soon “to tackle problems on the street.”
The criterion to select the new ministers will be “their competence to achieve the goals of the revolution.”
He said Egypt rejected the IMF loan because the conditions were not acceptable to his country.
“The Egyptian economy will achieve stability very soon, whether IMF decides to give the loan or not,” he said.
Asked about his relation with Muslim Brotherhood, Mursi said: “I grew up in Muslim Brotherhood. I was the president of the Freedom and Justice Party established by the Brotherhood and the party nominated me to the post of the president. But now I am the elected president of all Egyptians.” He said reports about communal strife between Coptics and Muslims in Egypt were exaggerated.
“Coptics have equal rights under Egyptian law and constitution. There are problems between Coptics and Muslims, between Muslims and Muslims and between Coptics and Coptics. When something happens between Muslims and Coptics, it is being been given a communal colour,” said Mursi.
