Moussa embarks on European tour

Egypt's Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on Wednesday embarks on a weeklong European tour which will take him to Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, France and Spain.

In statements on Tuesday, Moussa said his talks with Swedish officials will concentrate on the peace march in the Middle East, the Barcelona process for Europe-Mediterranean cooperation along with bilateral relations.

On his visit to France, Moussa said he will have talks with his French counterpart Hubert Vedrine and meet with members of the French National Assembly.

In Spain; Moussa said the two sides will review topics which have been agreed upon during the previous meeting of the joint committee with emphasis on questions agreed during President Hosni Mubarak's visit to Spain last year.

"Norway is very interested in the Middle East issue and it has a role in this respect," he said, noting that the Norwegian Foreign Minister was a member of the fact-finding commission, led by former US George Mitchell on events in Palestinian lands.

The visit will take place at the invitation from the Norwegian side to discuss a number of issues of mutual interest.

Asked about his visit to Switzerland for participation in Davos economic forum, Moussa said that he would meet with a large number of participant officials to exchange viewpoints on different political and economic issues.

Replying to a query whether he would sign a partnership agreement with the European Union (Eu), Moussa said that the Egyptian ambassador in Brussels would initial the agreement.

"There are ongoing talks in that respect but that initializing means that most of pending issues have been resolved," he said.

"As to the remaining problems, they will be subject to negotiations between two partners," Said Moussa.