Cohen to visit Cairo this month

Cairo said on Sunday, that US Secretary of Defense William Cohen will hold a visit to Egypt in the second week of this month, during which he will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Hussein Tantawi to discuss military cooperation between the two countries within the context of the Egyptian plan for military modernization.

Diplomatic sources at the US embassy in Cairo said that talks between Cohen and the Egyptian officials will deal with the Iraqi crisis, the stumbled Middle East peace process, especially on the Palestinian track and military cooperation between the two countries.

Earlier, Cohen met with President Mubarak at a Sharm al-Sheikh resort on the Red Sea coast following the Operation Desert Fox. During that meeting Cairo informed Cohen of its refusal of the military option as a means to solve the dispute between Iraq and the UN.

In another development, the US undersecretary of state for economic and agricultural affairs, Stuart Eizenstat, arrived today Monday in Cairo. He will meet with the political advisor for the Egyptian president, Osama El-Baz, to discuss steps that have been completed in the Mubarak - Gore agreement on the Egyptian - US partnership.