European Troika delegation arrives in Cairo

The European troika delegation led by Belgian Premier Guy Verhofstadt, whose country holds the current rotating presidency of the EU, arrived in Cairo late Friday on a two-day visit to Egypt.

During the visit, members of Troika are scheduled to meet with President Hosni Mubarak, Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher.

Talks are expected to tackle means of breaking the deadlock in the Middle East peace process on several tracks and the the role Europe can play in this respect at the coming stage.

The delegation's visit comes as part of regional tour which will take its members to the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

The tour comes upon directives from the recent European Summit which was held in the Belgian city of Gent on October 19.

Instructions were issued for the EU presidency to pay visits to certain countries in an attempt to refresh the Mideast peace process.

Troika's delegation includes European Union Commission President Romano Prodi, Belgian Deputy Premier and Foreign minister Louis Michel and European Union security chief Javier Solana.