A meeting held by the six-member steering office of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) today stressed that there is a pressing need to find solutions to the problems facing young people, especially unemployment, in the coming period.

Safwat El-Sherif, NDP's secretary-general, indicated that the party's steering office held a meeting with Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif on 23 January to follow the government's measures needed in the coming period for the addressing the problems of unemployment, poverty and social subsidies.

"In light of the 25 January street protests," said El-Sherif, "we will continue coordination with the government on how it will address these problems."

The meeting saw the first public appearance of Gamal Mubarak, the younger son of President Hosni Mubarak and chairman of the ruling party's powerful Policies Committee, and Ahmed Ezz, the multi-millionaire steel magnate and NDP's secretary for organizational affairs. There were rampant rumours yesterday that the two had fled the country.

Responding to a question about this, El-Sherif accused "outlawed groups" of disseminating these false rumours about the party's leaders. "This is significant proof that these groups infiltrated the street protests of last Tuesday and that they did their best to manipulate things in their own favour." In El-Sherif's words: “the NDP's leaders strongly believe in this nation and have nothing to fear about and know nothing about fleeing from the country in times of crisis."

El-Sherif added, "We are here to embrace ordinary people, meet their needs and solve their problems because we are the majority party." He added that "the ruling NDP is not an executive authority but we are a political party whose a government we follow and review in terms of performance."

According to El-Sherif, the rumours which were disseminated by outlawed groups regarding the fleeing of Mubarak and Ezz caused big losses for the Egyptian stock market. "I urge all not to listen to these rumours because it means a lot of losses in terms of investment, tourism and financial transactions," said El-Sherif.

El-Sherif said, "The street protests began on Tuesday in a civilized and peaceful way and we are as a party believing in all forms of freedom of expression encouraged young people to express their opinions in the way they like but when outlawed groups began to infiltrate protests, we began to see acts of sabotage and disseminating false rumours about the party's leaders and the country."

The ruling party’s secretary-general urged information media to convey a real picture about the country and not to listen to malicious rumours. He indicated that the ruling NDP is ready to open a dialogue with legal political parties on their demands for political and economic reform. "We are not arrogant people to reject dialogue with legal opposition parties but all should know that democracy dictates that the minority does not impose its positions on the majority."

While most have attributed the recent protests to the uprising in Tunisia – saying the Egyptians have been “inspired” and encouraged by Tunisians -- El-Sherif argued that the young people's street protests were actually inspired by the climate of democracy and press freedoms which have swept the country in recent years. "President Mubarak decided to adopt this way a long time ago and not to be like despotic regimes which impose a strict ban on any forms of democracy."

The MP argued that political reform will continue but at the pace suitable for the Egyptian society, adding that he hoped that "tomorrow's Friday prayers will be performed in a peaceful way and that they will not be exploited by any outlawed group trying their best to sow the seeds of sedition in this country."

The Ministry of Culture announced today that President Hosni Mubarak will open Cairo's Book Fair on Saturday. Parliamentary speaker Fathi Sorour also announced today that next Sunday  Nazif will address the People's Assembly on the 25 January street protests and the government's long-standing programme for tackling the issues of unemployment, poverty and high prices in the coming period.