Unemployment, poverty top agendas of Amr Moussa's presidential campaign

QENA, Egypt, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's presidential candidate Amr Moussa has vowed to fight unemployment and poverty in his campaign in southern Egypt.

Moussa, who is to end his post in May as chief of Cairo-based Arab League, said on Thursday his program will include an immediate and logical solution to the unemployment problem in the country.

Moussa said at a press conference held in Qena governorate that the government should provide an allowance for the unemployed for one year with an average of 1,500 Egyptian pounds (about 252 U.S. dollars).

The government should be responsible for creating jobs with 60 training centers, he added. Egypt's unemployment rate is estimated at around 20 percent, although official figures showed it was about nine percent.

Moussa said poverty was another main problem and should be reduced by economic reforms and social justice. Efforts should be made to establish small businesses, projects and provide credit and direct loans like India and Brazil, he added.

He stressed Egypt needed to gain its pivotal role in the region.

Moussa was Egypt's foreign minister from 1991 to 2001. He has been the Arab League's secretary general since 2001.

He is one of presidential candidates for the upcoming election later this year, after President Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign on Feb. 11 due to anti-government protests against his 30- year rule.

"I am proud of the ten years I spent as an Egyptian foreign minister during Mubarak's regime, I was loyal and honest in my political job and my decision was driven from the Egyptian people and the Arabs," he said.

"I have never been a member in the corrupted regime," he said.

He said he had no affiliation with the National Democratic Party, the former ruling party which has been dissolved by the court.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/29/c_13850753.htm.