Summary Sissi marked final day of a major economic conference that has injected billions of dollars in Egypt
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: (AP) - Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Sunday boisterously marked the final day of a major economic conference that has injected billions of dollars worth of aid and investment in his country, while still acknowledging the road to recovery will be long and costly.
A clearly happy el-Sissi invited young Egyptian organizers to join him at the podium before he addressed the economic conference held at the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Several seized the opportunity to take selfies with the Egyptian leader and joined the president in what he by now become his customary slogan of "Long live Egypt!"
But he swiftly stopped a chant of "long live el-Sissi."
El-Sissi has staked his legitimacy on fixing the economy and the conference is seeking a sign of confidence in the country s political stability, given a persistent Islamic militant insurgency and the government s fierce crackdown on Islamist opponents, which has killed hundreds, landed some 20,000 people in prison and brought heavy criticism.
"Some people thought my country has died, but Egypt is a country that God created so it can forever live," El-Sissi said.
As military chief, he led the July 2013 military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Nearly a year later, he was elected president with a landslide.
El-Sissi said Egypt needed as much as $300 billion in investments to rebuild and give the country s 90 million people a genuine hope to live well and enjoy life.
"We are behind, and those who are late must either speed walk or run," he said. "Even running will not be enough in our case."
The three-day gathering also is meant to show the world Egypt is open for business again to draw investors after four years of instability and turmoil that followed the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Investors committed $10.7 billion to projects on Saturday, a day after Gulf Arab nations announced a $12.5 billion aid package.
The agreements include a $6.5 billion deal with Egypt s Orascom group and the Abu Dhabi-owned International Petroleum Investment Co. to build a coal-fired power plant over four years, they said in a statement. The deals were signed a day earlier.
Of Saturday s agreements, Cairo Financial Holding, formerly led by Investment Minister Ashraf Salman, had the second-largest investment $1 billion into a tourism fund.
Preliminary engineering and finance agreements amounting to $5.8 billion were also signed, along with a further $5.4 billion in loans and grants from international partners and organizations.
The statement did not mention billions of dollars in agreements signed with Germany s Siemens AG or Italy s Eni SpA on Saturday.
Organizers say more agreements will be announced later Sunday.
