Mubarak receives message from Talbani
Egypt-Iraq, Politics, 11/24/2003

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak received Saturday a message from head of Iraq's Interim Governing Council (IGC) Jalal Talbani on the latest developments in Iraq.

The message was delivered by Talabani's envoy and IGC member Hajem Al-Haseeb during a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher.

Following the meeting, Hasseeb said the message also covered the agreement reached between the IGC and the coalition forces in Iraq to restore sovereignty and independence to the country.

The message aims at securing a much stronger role for Egypt in Iraq than ever before, Hasseeb added.

Underlining Iraq's interest in increasing cooperation with Egypt, he called for a greater Egyptian role in the reconstruction of Iraq and training the Iraqi police.

He pointed out to differences over details of the agreement between the IGC and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), such as the coming elections and the supervising authority. He, however, played down the importance of such differences.

The IGC knows that Egypt is a pivotal country, and has previously played an important role in Iraq and should undertake a greater role in drafting Iraq's future, Iraqi envoy and IGC member Hajem Al-Hasseeb said. Commenting on relations between Iraq and its neighboring countries following his meeting with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Hasseeb said Iraq's relations with Syria are very good.

He cited visits to Syria by Iraqi delegations, including that of the IGC which met with President Bashar Al-Assad.

Iraq will restore its full sovereignty by the end of July, Hasseeb told reporters when asked on the time the US forces pull out from his country.

Transferring the security file to the Iraqis could achieve security and stability in Iraq, and that is what the IGC is seeking, he added.

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