Egypt’s Suez Canal authorities have faced their toughest peacetime challenge yet after the gigantic Ever Given container ship lodged in the Suez Canal, according to a Tuesday article from the English newspaper Financial Times. According to the newspaper, the canal is where Egypt’s where economic interests and national pride converge, noting that Egyptians celebrated once the ship was freed and passage could resume through the canal. Freeing the Ever Given it was more than just getting trade back on track, the Financial Times said it was a matter of national pride. Hundreds of ships had accumulated at the waterway’s entrance, leading the Egyptian canal authorities to deal with their toughest peacetime challenge yet – one where both economic matters and the reputation of the country was at stake. A professor of political science at Cairo University Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayyid said that the Suez Canal Authority is at the forefront of state institutions that work well.

Source: Egypt Independent March 30, 2021 14:15 UTC