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Friday, August 7, 2015
President Abdel al-Sisi of Egypt officially inaugurated the Suez Canal’s major extension on August 6.
“Work did not take place in normal circumstances, and these circumstances still exist and we are fighting them and we will defeat them,” Sisi said at the signing of the order allowing ships to cross the New Suez Canal. “We promised a gift to the world and we accomplished it in record time – an additional artery for prosperity and for connecting civilization to enhance the movement of international trade,” he said, as the first vessel, a container ship called CMA CGM TITAN, blew its horn and passed through the canal.
The canal, one of the North African country’s biggest moneymakers, allows east-west shipping traffic as an alternative to going around the continent. The expansion, which had an $8-billion price tag, came in two years under schedule.
The inauguration was attended by a bevy of foreign dignitaries, including French President Francois Hollande, Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, and King Abdullah of Jordan. While US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Cairo several days before the inauguration he was not in attendance nor was any other top US official, however the ceremony was attended by Ambassador Robert Beecroft and Darrell Issa, a US Representative from California.
The first ship to pass through the expansion was the yacht El-Mahrousa, carrying Sisi in full military regalia.
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