Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak begins on Tuesday a European tour that will take him to Germany, Romania and Russia, focusing on the situation in the Middle East.
Mubarak will arrive in Berlin on April 24, Bucharest the next day and Moscow on April 26, reported AL-Ahram daily.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said the situation in the Middle East will be the main focus of talks between the President and the European leaders.
“Egypt wants the European Union to have a stronger role in the Middle East,” he said, adding that Egypt seeks a European support for the Jordanian-Egyptian peace plan presented to Israel to end the unrest and resume negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”
The plan, which has been given the backing of the Palestinians, sets out confidence-building measures to put an end to the violence and re-launch peace negotiations.
Israel Radio said on Monday that Israel will formally respond to the plan in the coming few days.
The paper said that Mubarak will also discuss with the three leaders the Iraqi-Kuwait conflict, the results of his recent visit to the US as well as the results of the Arab summit held in Amman late March.
Bilateral ties will also be the focus of Mubarak’s talks, it added.
Meanwhile, head of the Far East Department at the German foreign ministry, Wolfganag Forefrek, said on Saturday that his country “commends Mubarak’s wisdom, and his important role in achieving stability in the region,” the daily Al-Ahram quoted him as saying.
“The German government is looking forward to consulting with Mubarak about the critical situation in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon,” Forefrek said.
Apart from the political track, one of the main objectives of Mubarak’s visit to Romania and the talks with President Ion Illiescu will be to re-launch bilateral economic ties.
Egypt’s ambassador to Romania, Sammer Hattab, told the paper that Mubarak’s visit to Bucharest will further strengthen Egyptian-Romanian relations in various fields.
In Moscow, Mubarak will focus on the Middle East and ways of strengthening bilateral ties.
The visit to Russia will be dominated by political issues and the situation in the Middle East, Russia's ambassador to Cairo, Andrei Denissov, was quoted as saying Thursday by the Egyptian MENA news agency.
"The Iraqi problem and the situation in the Gulf will also be on the agenda for the talks," said the Russian ambassador, adding that Russia has suggestions to put forward concerning security guarantees in the Gulf and it wants to explore the possibilities of holding international discussions on the subject, said AFP.
Russia has frequently argued for a lifting of the international sanctions imposed on Iraq since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Meanwhile, Egypt online reported Saturday that a joint cooperation commission will meet to look into expanding economic and trade links between the two countries.
A fair of Egyptian products is also planned in Moscow, said the news service.
The two countries will also sign a number of agreements, including a long-term program of economic, industrial, trade, technical, scientific and health cooperation.
The second round of the joint Egyptian-Russian committee was held in Cairo in 1997.
Trade between Egypt and Russia has reached an annual level of 450 million dollars and the two countries want it to climb to a billion dollars over the coming years, said the online service -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
