Cairo rules out the return back of its ambassador to Israel

Egypt has ruled out the return back of its ambassador to Israel under the current conditions "as reasons behind the withdrawal of the ambassador are still existent."

The Egyptian foreign minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit said on Tuesday that the conditions which allow his country's ambassador to Israel to return are not available, recalling that the Egyptian ambassador was pulled out during the Intifada and the Israeli invasion of the West Bank.

Meantime, Abu al-Gheit expressed in a press conference held in Manama on Tuesday his hope that the deployment of the Israeli Labor party in the Israeli government will contribute to the resumption of the negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

On the other hand, Abu al-Gheit who presided over the Egyptian side to the joint Bahraini- Egyptian committee meetings in Manama indicated that the reactivation of trade and economic relations between his country and the Gulf states constitutes one of the main objectives in his current tour in the region.

He said that the aim of the visit is to reactivate Egyptian- Gulf relations in general, noting that "our political relations with the Gulf states are active, old and strong, but were not reflected in the level of the trade exchange." The Bahraini- Egyptian joint committee concluded its meeting on Tuesday in Manama by signing several memorandum of understanding on implementing several agreements between Cairo and Manama in the fields of tourism, health, agriculture, construction, roads, bridges and social affairs and labor.