Mubarak meets Assad in Syria

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt arrived in Lattakia at 11 a.m. (Syrian local time) today. At Bassel's al-Assad Airport, he and his accompanying ministerial delegation were welcomed by Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Vice-President Khaddam, Premier al-Zoubi, and senior Syrian officials.

Upon arriving at Lattakia Presidential Palace the two presidents held a closed-door meeting, during which talks dealt with developments in the region, the peace process and contacts made in this respect. Following the closed-door meeting a plenary meeting was held, attended by the two presidents, the Syrian vice-president, premier and foreign minister on the Syrian side and by the Egyptian premier and foreign minister on the Egyptian side.

Syrian officials said President Mubarak arrived in Syria today to hold talks with President Hafez al-Assad on the Middle East peace process. The officials added that the two presidents' meetings in Lattakia will center on the talks to be held by President Mubarak with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu in Cairo next Tuesday.

The Syrian officials only said today's talks deal with issues of mutual concern, whereas Egyptian officials in Cairo elaborated that President Mubarak wants to know "Whether President al-Assad has anything he can convey to Netanyahu concerning the stalemated Syrian - Israeli talks." The Egyptian officials, who refused to be identified, said the two presidents will also discuss the Israeli conditional proposal to withdrawal from south Lebanon.

The two Presidents meet frequently to coordinate positions concerning the peace process. President Mubarak is accompanied by an official delegation including Prime Minister Kamel Ganzouri, Information Minister Safwat al-Sharif, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, chairman of the Egyptian presidential court Zakarya Azmi, and President Mubarak's office director for political affairs, Osama el-Baz.