Mubarak meets Qabous marking the beginning of a Gulf tour

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak yesterday arrived in Oman where he had started talks with Sultan Qaboos Bin Said over several Arab and international issues. This is in the context of a Gulf tour.

The Egyptian president will be accompanied in thus tour with a delegation including the chairman of the general intelligence Omar Suleiman and Mubarak's political advisor Osama al-Baz.

The tour also covers the United Arab Emirates where Mubarak will hold talks in Abu Dhabi with Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan al-Nahyan.

The Egyptian daily al-Ahram said that Mubarak's talks with the two Arab leaders will deal with " Arab and international issues, foremost being the developments of the Iraqi and Palestinian questions, the main problems facing the Arab region, and preparations for the next Arab summit and initiatives proposed to develop the work of the Arab League.

The paper added that "the initiatives to develop the work of the Arab League will be the focal point of the summit meeting between Mubarak and Qaboos, especially with the approaching date of convening the summit.

Egypt's Ambassador to Oman Hani Riyad Sunday said Sultan Qaboos Bin Said of Oman is keen to make President Mubarak's itinerary an open one far from any formalities.

In statements to MENA, Riyad said the arrangement was made upon a mutual agreement by the two leaders in order to be able to hold more than one bilateral meeting in which they can exchange views and evaluate the situation on the Arab, regional and international arenas, especially at this stage.

The two leaders will mainly discuss the Arab League reform, he said, adding that Egypt had submitted a blueprint on the League's reform.

Worthy mentioning that Egypt takes part in the talks of the Iraq's neighboring states in addition to Iran, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan which is held in Kuwait and concentrates on regional security.

Mubarak said on Wednesday during his visit to Turkey that he supports Ankara's rejection the emergence of a federal system on ethnic ground in Iraq and that it is necessary to preserve Iraq's regional unity and that any attempt to partition it will bring in risks and instability.