Nabil Fahmi: ME tense conditions hinder Mubarak's annual visit to US

The Egyptian Ambassador to the US, Nabil Fahmi, stressed that the Egyptian-US relations are deep, mature and based on certain interests not on emergent circumstances.

He added that President Mubarak not visiting Washington as scheduled every year does not reflect any tension in the bilateral relations stressing ongoing direct and intensive contacts between the Egyptian and US presidents.

Ambassador Fahmi made it clear that the arrangements for presidential visits are possible at any time depending on the leaders' schedules on each side.

"We are looking forward to more active US role as a peace sponsor to achieve both the Palestinian and Israeli interests because peace will not be achieved at the expense of one part," he added.

He pointed out that the Arab and the US interests will not be maintained unless the Arab-Israeli conflict comes to an end.

Egypt was working hard on increasing natural gas exports in a bid to become a major exporter to the European market.