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   collective work and the team spirit. This leads to an   
   absence of the culture of work for many people, which   
   obstructed professional and mental involvement in the   
   modernizing project we are implementing.   
      
   Despite all that, we have the determination to   
   address all gaps and overcome all the weaknesses   
   which characterized certain aspects of our   
   performance.  We have great ambitions to achieve   
   development and prosperity in the different aspects   
   of our life.  That is why we started the major   
   steps of our development project at the beginning   
   of 2006; I mean the 10th five year plan which we   
   are doing our best to implement through the   
   involvement of all social sections and national   
   institutions.  It is a comprehensive development   
   strategy and includes a gradual reform programme.   
   It expresses our national development vision for   
   all aspects of life and work in our society.  It   
   brings together the economic, social, scientific,   
   cultural and other areas.  That is why it is   
   important to clarify these policies on all levels   
   so that our progress will be clear to all, and so   
   that the total of our collective performance is   
   coordinated towards the achievement of our   
   development objectives.   
      
   We have wide ranging tasks for the future which   
   require an intensification of all capacities to   
   complete them and to make them the foundations of   
   our national work for the future.  At the forefront   
   of these tasks is giving the greatest care and   
   attention to our young generation by protecting   
   them materially and morally, thinking about their   
   academic and professional future and making the   
   question of unemployment our top priority in the   
   coming period.  In parallel to the great openness   
   we have embarked on in Syria, we have to take care   
   of their upbringing, cultivation and education and   
   inculcating them with genuine Arab characteristics   
   so that our openness remains positive and   
   constructive.   
      
   Our second task should be completing the process of   
   insuring the appropriate conditions for the   
   promotion and diversification of investment and   
   directing it towards the promising sectors in our   
   country and removing all bureaucratic hurdles which   
   might hinder that, particularly that we have   
   updated the laws which regulate investment and have   
   provided all facilities.  It was encouraging that   
   despite the unstable regional circumstances,   
   investment projects approved under Investment Law   
   in 2006 were worth SP 470 billion and those   
   approved for tourist investment were worth about SP   
   100 billion.   
      
   It is important to adopt regional planning in our   
   development policies in order to drive our future   
   projects in the right direction by drawing out a   
   clear economic, social, educational and investment   
   map.  This should take into account our needs, on   
   the one hand, and the functional tasks of the   
   country’s regions, on the other.  This should also   
   be placed within the framework of achieving a   
   balanced and equitable development in line with   
   administrative decentralization in our current   
   plans, and in a manner that insures comprehensive   
   development sufficiency in every region and   
   governorate, and integrate and harmonize them with   
   other regions and governorates in the country.   
      
   It is essential to connect economic development to   
   social development and to make that the base for   
   real development accumulation and stability in our   
   country.   
      
   Administrative development is the first step   
   towards an economic development in the country.   
   That is why pursuing the process of administrative   
   development, computerization, dissemination of the   
   right administrative culture, giving training the   
   needed attention, establishing the criteria for   
   transparency and competence should be top on our   
   priority list.   
      
   Talking about administrative development leads us   
   to talking about corruption which is the centre of   
   people’s attention in our country, because of its   
   direct and indirect impact on social life and   
   because it turned into an impediment for reform.   
   Despite of what is being said about its volume and   
   dimensions, the differing views on it, and despite   
   the efforts made to reduce and combat it, we still   
   need effective mechanisms to combat corruption.   
   Punishing corrupt individuals is an important   
   mechanism, but it is not sufficient; that is why   
   administrative development and the wider use of   
   modern technology are complementary mechanisms.   
      
   When we talk about comprehensive mechanisms for   
   combating corruption that should include improving   
   control mechanisms, developing the media and   
   promoting societal participation so that this issue   
   can be addressed by the whole of society,   
   particularly that corruption is a moral and   
   educational problem in the first place.   
      
   We should pay continuous and effective attention to   
   legal modernization; for legal stability is the   
   foundation of stability and justice in society.  It   
   is the crucial element for a strong and sound   
   development.  Its modernization should include the   
   organization of the judiciary, like selecting   
   judges and giving them first-class training and   
   protecting them.  It should also include the   
   restructuring of judicial work and management in a   
   manner that achieves effectiveness and   
   transparency, reduces red tape and the piling of   
   cases, creating new courts and legal institutions   
   to cover all communities; insuring diversity and   
   specialization; modernizing administrative courts   
   and commercial courts; computerizing the legal   
   process in terms of procedures and data.  These are   
   mere landmarks in this process.   
      
   The Arabic language, which expresses our history,   
   culture and identity, should be awarded all our   
   care and protection.  It should continue to live in   
   our curricula, media and education as a living   
   being which grows, develops and prospers.  It   
   should be awarded the status it deserves at the   
   heart of our national identity.  It should continue   
   to be able to integrate into the scientific   
   development and knowledge in the age of   
   globalization and information in order to become   
   one of the tools of modernization and a strong   
   shield in the confrontation with attempts of   
   alienation and distortion faced by our culture.   
      
   We in Syria have given the Arabic language all our   
   attention; and it has occupied, from an early   
   stage, a prominent role in our cultural life.   
   Today, we are required to complete our efforts to   
   uphold it, particularly at this stage when our   
   national existence is targeted by attempts to   
   obscure its identity and its components.  Adhering   
   to the Arabic language is synonymous to adhering to   
   this existence itself.   
      
   We have to remember that our support for learning   
   foreign languages in order to meet the requirements   
   of learning, civilizational communications with   
   others is not an alternative for the Arabic   
   language but an extra incentive to empower and   
   improve its status.   
      
   We are all required to work for a more active role   
   for women and for enabling them to be active   
   participants in all fields; for the development,   
   openness and progress of society is strongly linked   
   to the rights women actually enjoy and their   
   participation in the life of their country.   
      
   Sisters and brothers,   
      
   The tragic events engulfing our region and our   
   peoples have become part of the daily scene,   
   particularly in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon.  We   
   are convinced that the international community   
   lacks the will for the implementation of its   
   resolutions and for shouldering its   
   responsibilities when it comes to our rights and   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)