Mubarak, Merkel discuss issues
Egypt-Germany, Politics, 2/4/2007

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel who arrived in Cairo yesterday on a two day visit on the first leg of a tour that would take her to many countries of the region. Talks focused on current developments in the region, mainly Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur, Somalia and the Iranian nuclear file.

They also discussed ways of cementing Egyptian German relations in the economic field and attracting German investments to Egypt.

Following their talks, Mubarak and Merkel held a press conference in which they said talks tackled a wide range of regional and international issues, the role of European Union in reactivating Mideast peace process as Germany is the Chairman of the current session of the European Union.

At their press conference, President Mubarak and Chancellor Merkel stressed the importance of shoring up the peace process. Merkel hailed the Egyptian efforts for urging Palestinian partners to form a national unity government.

President Mubarak welcomed Merkel and voiced appreciation of their useful and constructive talks.

Mubarak said that their talks were held in as positive atmosphere that reflected the strength of Egyptian-German relations.

Merkel's first visit to Egypt comes at part of continued consultations between the two countries on regional and international issues of mutual concern, Mubarak added.

"Today's talks dwelt on the situation in the Middle East and bilateral relations in the fields of trade, investment and tourism, in addition to cultural, scientific and academic cooperation," Mubarak said. He added that he highly appreciated Merkel's efforts as regards the Mideast issues, since Germany held the rotating presidency of the EU.

For her part, the German Chancellor appreciated Egypt's role to establish peace in the Middle East. She also lauded Egyptian cooperation with the Quartet members.

Merkel said that the meeting with President Mubarak addressed the Iranian nuclear file, developments in Sudan's western Darfur region and the situation in Lebanon.

I agreed with President Mubarak on the importance of supporting peace powers in the region, Merkel said, adding that Egypt was playing an important role in this respect by supporting the Palestinian Authority.

Merkel affirmed the strength of German-Egyptian relations describing them as excellent. The German Chancellor said that talks with Mubarak also dwelt on efforts of Germany, to boost peace in the Mideast. She stressed that Egypt and Germany were having distinguished ties in the different fields.

The German Chancellor said Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif briefed her on the status of the Egyptian economy.

Egypt and Germany will hold on Sunday an economic forum which the German Economics Minister will take part, Merkel added. She said that Germany maintains cooperation with Egypt in the field of advanced technology, science, and education.

Merkel voiced hope her country would be able to enhance Euro-Med dialogue and to support the Barcelona process.

The German Chancellor said that her accompanying delegation comprised a number of businessmen.

A meeting between Egyptian businessmen and their German counterparts has been arranged for exploring investment opportunities.

Talks also took up economic reform measures taken by the Egyptian government, said Merkel, adding that her country would work on increasing Egyptian exports to the EU markets.

Merkel also stressed the importance of promoting cooperation between Egypt and Germany in the scientific field, particularly in teaching and training youths.

Germany is ready to cooperate with Egypt in such a domain in light of the presence of the German University in Cairo (GUC), said Merkel.

Replying to a question on Iran's nuclear program, President Mubarak said that the issue was on the agenda of the UN Security Council, adding that the United States and the European countries did not want more nuclear powers in the region.

"Egypt has always called for rendering the Middle East region free from weapons of mass destruction; including nuclear, chemical and biological weapons," said Mubarak. Mubarak voiced hope that the Iranian issue would be settled peacefully.

Asked about the possibility of pushing forward the Mideast peace process in future, Mubarak said that the Mideast issue was a complicated one, adding that "going back to 1948, one would realize that a spate of problems were involved."

"So far, efforts exerted were aimed at establishing peace in the region and solving the problem between the Palestinians and Israelis," said Mubarak, adding that, however, there was a problem now among the Palestinian factions themselves.

The Palestinian side could not sit down with the Israelis on the negotiating table while there is an inter-Palestinian dispute, said Mubarak.

He added that the Egyptian side was currently working on healing the rift between the two Palestinian factions; Fatah and Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian-Israeli negotiations were conditional on the release of the captured Israeli soldier and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, said Mubarak.

"At the same time, we are working on forming a Palestinian national unity government, which is about to come to being," he added.

"We are exerting our utmost effort in this respect in cooperation with regional powers, Europe and the United States," he noted.

There is no issue in the Middle East region that could be solved by one country said Mubarak, adding that there should be Arab- European-US cooperation to settle the ME problems. All differences required cooperation among all intentional parties to settle them, said Mubarak.
Asked if there was a strategy to settle the Middle East conflict, the German Chancellor said that such a matter featured high at the Quartet Committee meetings.

Merkel stressed the importance of economic development in the Palestinian areas, deeming it a vital step.

Towards achieving this target, the three Quartet benchmarks; recognition of Israel, renouncing violence and acceptance of previous agreements, should be respected, said Merkel.

These are the conditions set by the Quartet to help the Palestinian people, said Merkel, stressing that Egyptian efforts aiming at settling the Palestinian question were indispensable. She further underlined the importance of the European Union and the Quartet support for the Egyptian efforts.

Replying to a question on European efforts to maintain stability in the region, particularly in Palestine, Somalia and Iraq, the German Chancellor said that stability could not be achieved without the United States' cooperation.

The European Union economically has backed the Palestinian areas for several years, said Merkel, voicing the EU commitment to continue support of the Palestinians.

Germany, through its presidency of the European Union, could not act in isolation, said Merkel, stressing the need to rally all efforts to solve the Palestinian dilemma.

The crux of the Palestinian cause was the lack of confidence, said Merkel, adding that without trusting one another, there will be no hope in a better future.

She also expressed the EU readiness to help in improving the conditions in the Palestinian areas on condition of acknowledging Israel's right to exist.

Shifting to the Lebanese issue, the German Chancellor said that the EU members offered aid to Lebanon in Paris-3 conference. She added that Germany also backed the UN Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south.

The German contingent was working on thwarting attempts to smuggle weapons into Lebanon via Syria in accordance with Lebanon's sovereignty, Merkel said.

As for the problem of the western Sudanese region of Darfur, Merkel said that the EU was cooperating with the African Union to solve the matter.

President Mubarak hosted a dinner banquet in honor of visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her accompanying delegation.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif held official talks Saturday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Nazif and Merkel held a tête-à-tête session of talks that was followed by a plenary session attended by members of the Egyptian and German delegations.

Talks between the two sides covered the latest developments in the Middle East and efforts exerted to revive the Palestinian- Israeli peace process and ways to promote economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Nazif and the German Chancellor reviewed ways to promote cooperation in the economic and trade domains between Egypt and Germany.

Cabinet Spokesman Magdi Radi told reporters that Nazif reviewed during his talks with Merkel political, economic and social reform programs in Egypt, pointing out that Merkel was keen to listen to the details of Egypt's experiment in the field of reform and plans for improving the investment atmosphere in Egypt.

Radi said that trade exchange between Germany and Egypt increased by 215 per cent over the past couple of years to reach $ 2.4 billion.

Radi said Nazif and Merkel discussed ways to promote cooperation in the tourist domain especially that the number of German tourists represented a large percentage of the size of tourism in Egypt, pointing out to more than one million Germans coming to Egypt every year.

Talks covered making use of Germany's expertise in the field of technology and car industry, he said. The two sides agreed on promoting Egyptian-European and Mediterranean relations, especially in light of Germany's current chairmanship of the European Union, he added.

They probed Germany's support for Egypt in the Europe Neighborhood policy agreement with Egypt which is expected to be signed in Brussels in March, he said.

Nazif and Merkel are expected to co-chair an Egyptian-German Economic forum to be organized by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in cooperation with the German-Arab Chamber of Industry in the presence of 70 German businessmen accompanying Merkel.

They will meet with their Egyptian counterparts for talks on cooperation in the field of investment, he pointed out. Session of talks was attended by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, State for International Cooperation, Trade and Industry and Egypt's ambassador in Berlin.

On his part, Eng. Rasheed Mohamed Rasheed, the Minister of Trade and Industry said Nazif and Merkel meeting touched on relations in the field of economy and ways of boosting trade exchange between Egypt and Germany.

He said an agreement was reached on expanding cooperation in the implementation of projects discussed during Mubarak's visit to Germany such as car components, substitute energy, vocational and industrial training.

They also discussed ways of developing German investments in Egypt in the upcoming stage.

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