Egypt's de factor leader expected to praise ruling military council's 'achievements' and outline transitional phase agenda in a speech to Saturday's joint parliamentary session called to discuss formation of constituent assembly

Head of the current ruling military council Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi is to address a special joint session of parliament called to discuss the formation of the constituent assembly, Saturday morning.

Tantawi will reportedly give a speech to both the upper and lower houses of parliament about the military council's "achievements" during the year-long transitional phase after the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak. He is also expected to announce the military council's agenda for the country until the transfer of power to a civilian authority on 30 June, a date set by Tantawi.

The conference, that is taking place at the Cairo International Conference Centre, is attended by the elected parliament members of both the People's Assembly and the Shura Council, as well as the current Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri and a number of Cabinet members.

Parliamentary speaker Mohamed Saad El-Katatni of the Freedom and Justice Party commenced the session with an opening speech where he criticised the recent developments in the controversial non-governmental organisation (NGO) lawsuit. 43 Egyptian and US NGO workers face trial after the Egyptian government accused them of receiving illegal foreign funding.

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