King Hassan, Mubarak discuss Middle East peace, bilateral relations

King Hassan II of Morocco and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt on Wednesday discussed the "fading hopes" in the Middle East peace process, according to diplomats in Cairo.

The two leaders witnessed the signing of several bilateral economic agreements, estimated at a value of US $100 million. Ten other cooperation agreements were also signed between the two countries covering various oil, agriculture, fishery and judiciary fields.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Amr Moussa told reporters -- as the two leaders did not speak with reporters -- that the two leaders talked about "diminishing hopes for attaining a successful peace process because of the existing Israeli policy."

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Middle East News Agency, MENA, quoted Egyptian diplomats as saying that leaders from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the Palestine Authority would meet in a "mini-summit" to discuss the peace process. Moussa added that as the summit has been proposed by Arafat, Arab leaders are still considering the proposal. No date or place has been mentioned for the gathering, but MENA quoted the diplomats as saying that King Hassan's visit to Egypt was partly in preparation for the summit.