Mubarak to have talks in Spain on bilateral cooperation, ME and international terrorism
Egypt-Spain, Politics, 11/1/2001

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will have intensive talks upon arrival in Madrid today with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on issues of bilateral cooperation, the Middle East crisis and international terrorism.

Following the talks, Mubarak and Aznar will hold a joint press conference.

Talks between Mubarak and high level Spanish officials will focus on the situation in the Middle East, regional and international issues after September 11 incidents in Washington and New York.

Talks will also deal with the role to be played by Spain in the upcoming stage especially when it takes over the EU chairmanship.

During the talks, the President will review bilateral cooperation in the political, economic and commercial fields mainly the projects agreed on with the Spanish side such as high speed train project which the two sides have agreed to carry out on three stages, the first will be carried out between Cairo and Alexandria at aggregate costs of 1.5 billion dollars.

For this project, Spain will offer a loan with a symbolic interest rate which will be repaid along a period of thirty years and a ten-years period of grace.

The two sides will review a project for liquefying gas for which Egypt and Spain have conducted a feasibility study.

Spanish workshops have started to manufacture the first two vessels for conveying Egyptian liquefied gas to world markets. A special plant will be established in Damietta for this gas which will be produced in 2004.

Today evening, the President will leave Madrid for Island where he will deliver the inaugural speech at the Euro Mediterranean dialogue forum.

The Spanish Embassy in Cairo has issued a statement hailing the role played by President Mubarak in the Middle East. The statement said that the visit reflects the depth of close friendship relations between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher will take part in the political table which will deal with the international situation, political issues, the management of conflicts in the Mediterranean and mechanisms of settling the Mideast conflict.

The economic table will discuss the issue of immigration and the relation between immigration and development as well as the demographic balance in the North of Europe and South of the Mediterranean.

The third table will discuss the expansion of the European Union membership and the future of the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in Europe and South of the Mediterranean.

The forum was scheduled to take place on October 29 but was deferred two days in order to enable President Mubarak to take part.

The forum is of importance as it comes few weeks before Spain takes over the EU presidency as of January.

The Mediterranean countries are looking forward for an active European role that could push forward the peace process.

Previous Stories:
  Mubarak on a two-day visit to Spain   (10/31/2001)
  Mubarak, Aznar exchange views by telephone   (10/11/2001)
  Aznar's visit deepens bilateral relations   (2/15/2001)

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