Egypt to inaugurate 'expanded Suez canal' tomorrow

Egypt is slated to inaugurate an expansion of the Suez Canal on Thursday, which it believes will act as a boost to world trade.

According to the Dawn, the Suez Canal Authority issues a statement saying that the expansion could almost double the number by 2023.

The canal, a 20th century symbol of independence, was opened in 1869 after almost a decade of work and has since then been a main revenue earner for Egypt.

The pan-Arabist president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the canal in 1956, which was until then run by the British- and French-owned Suez Canal Company, invoking the Suez crisis in which Britain, France and Israel invaded parts of Egypt.

The waterway has continued to play a key role in global commerce and is an important route for oil traffic.

As per reports of the U.S. Energy Information Agency, in 2013, 4.6 per cent of global oil and petroleum products passed through the Suez Canal or the Sumed pipeline that provides an alternative route from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.