A Message from al-Assad to Mubarak, conveyed by Khaddam
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt on Monday in Cairo received the Syrian vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam.
During the meeting Khaddam conveyed a message from President Bashar al-Assad to President Mubarak relating to developments on the regional and international arenas and means of consolidating Arab and Islamic coordination to withstand current challenges.
The meeting was attended by the Egyptian prime minister Atif Obeid, the Egyptian foreign minister Ahmad Maher and Syria's ambassador to Cairo Youssef Ahmad.
In the afternoon, a round of talks was held between Khaddam and Atif Ebeid. It was attended by the deputy premier and foreign minister Youssef Ghali, who is also the minister of agriculture and the ministers of information Safwat al-Sharif, the foreign minister Ahmad Maher and Syria's ambassador in Cairo Ahmad Maher.
Discussions dealt with means of strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields and revitalizing the wok of the joint higher committee to increasing the volume of trade exchange, investments and joint projects.
In a statement, Khaddam said that the aim of his visit to Egypt is to convey a message from President Bashar al-Assad to President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak of Egypt dealing with regional and international conditions.
Khaddam explained that these conditions were discussed in a way to guarantee reaching a common vision serving Arab cooperation and Arab interests under the current critical and complex conditions.
Khaddam described his talks with President Mubarak as characterized by the care of the two countries to maintain cooperation and serious coordination regarding current developments on the regional and international arenas.
Concerning his talks with Ebeid, the Syrian vice President said that cooperation in the economic field was the essence of these talks in addition to strengthening and developing bilateral relations. Khaddam expressed satisfaction over all discussions held with both the Egyptian president and prime minister.
Ebeid, for his part, noted the full identical views between Syria and Egypt on the imperative fostering of bilateral relations in all fields especially increasing the volume of trade exchange, economic cooperation and joint projects.
Ebeid said talks discussed the natural gas pipeline extended from Egypt to Jordan and which will be extended later to Syria and Lebanon and adding that Cyprus has called for extending this pipeline across its territories.
Ebeid pointed out that the two sides agreed on the need for expediting the execution of this pipeline given the fact that the financing needed for this purpose is available.
Ebeid said the establishment of this line would contribute to the establishment of a modern network -of telecommunications extended from Egypt to Syria and Mashreq countries at low costs.
Ebeid said an agreement has been reached on the establishment of power stations and power linkage companies.
Khaddam, however, arrived in Cairo on Monday morning in a visit to Egypt. He was welcomed at Cairo's international airport by Ebeid, Maher, the Syrian ambassador and embassy staff in Cairo.