{"id":60110,"date":"2015-08-06T14:45:27","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T14:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=17db342dfd79d3aff0d72352b08f76a1"},"modified":"2015-08-06T14:45:27","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T14:45:27","slug":"news-story-defence-secretary-attends-historic-suez-canal-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=60110","title":{"rendered":"News story: Defence Secretary attends historic Suez Canal expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Mr Fallon visited Egypt today (Thursday) to discuss the UK\u2019s partnership with Egypt, including tackling ISIL in Northern Sinai and Libya, and the provision of life-saving counter-explosive device training.<\/p>\n<p>His visit included the opening ceremony of a new channel for the Suez Canal; an expansion of the historic waterway which will reduce the journey time between the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean by eight hours, boosting a vital trade route for UK interests.<\/p>\n<p>Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Whether British tourists in Tunisia, Egyptian workers in Libya or Egyptian armed forces in North Sinai, both of our nations have experienced evil terrorism inspired or directed by ISIL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">We will stand together to ensure their ideology of hate is defeated and Egypt can build a better and more secure future with ambitious projects like the Suez Canal expansion at its heart.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The UK enjoys a strong security partnership with Egypt, which includes the delivery of life-saving counter-improvised explosive device and aviation security training to Egyptian security officials. Security officials are also working closely to co-ordinate efforts on the UN peace process in Libya.<\/p>\n<p>During his visit Mr Fallon also discussed Britain\u2019s support for security and for economic progress and democracy in Egypt, as a vital element of restoring stability in the region. As Egypt\u2019s largest investor, Britain is helping to strengthen Egypt\u2019s position against terrorism by supporting a more prosperous society. The new Suez Canal will double the canal\u2019s capacity and will foster economic transformation in the area, with British businesses set to play a leading role in investment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Fallon has expressed the UK\u2019s support for Egypt\u2019s economy and our shared determination to fight terrorism as he witnessed the opening of the country\u2019s new Suez Canal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60110"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}