Bush administration attempts to soften conditions of free trade accord for Egypt's interest

Some prominent Congressmen said US President George W. Bush Administration attempts to ease some harsh conditions of the US Egyptian free trade accord.

These conditions were included by the Democrats under former President Bill Clinton.

The Congressmen met yesterday in Washington with the "Knock the Door" mission currently visiting the USA.

They expected the coming negotiations will be more complicated than that with Jordan. They called on the Egyptian government to accelerate passing the intellectual property law currently debated by the People's Assembly as this law will play a key role in attracting more foreign investments to Egypt.

Some deputies criticized the slack of Egypt's privatization program especially in the state-owned banks but the Egyptians explained reasons behind the postponement of this move for lack of proper climate but no backtrack on this trend in general.