Talks between Mubarak and King Abdullah
Talks between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan started on Sunday in Cairo. Talks centered on the peace process and developments in the region, as well as Jordanian- Egyptian bilateral relations.
Egyptian Information minister Sawfat al-Sharif said that the two sides dealt with realizing progress on the Palestinian track of the Middle East peace process, calling for implementation of agreements that have already been signed.
King Abdullah arrived in Cairo on Sunday in the framework of a tour which will include Algeria, Tunisia and France.
Today, King Abdullah will head for Algeria to hold talks with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on means of strengthening bilateral relations and inter-Arab relations.
On Tuesday, King Abdullah will visit to Tunisia at the invitation of President Zein al-Abidin Bin Ali and will hold talks with him on means of strengthening bilateral relations and several regional issues.
From Tunisia, King Abdullah will head to Paris on a working visit to be followed in November by his visit to France during which he will meet with French President Jacque Chirac. Talks between King Abdullah and Chirac during the visit will deal with means of boosting bilateral relations.
King Abdullah will also meet with the French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and more than 20 prominent French businessmen, especially owners of the French water companies, La Fairj and Sues, the first international companies which are investing in Jordan in the context of the privatization program.
On the economic level, Jordan will not hesitate to declare its contentment over results of the meetings of the "Paris Club" when the lending countries on May 20 agreed to alleviate debt services on US $800 million of debts owed by Jordan, following a decisive French role in this regard.
France's share of this debt accounts for 30%, representing US $230 million.
The visit of the Jordanian King to France falls in the context of the current contacts it carries with the major lending countries in the framework of the G-7 before convening its summit in the middle of June in Germany as Jordan is seeking to convince these countries to cancel 50% of its accumulated foreign debts estimated at US $6.8 billion, especially as the king's previous visit covered in last may Germany, Britain, Canada and the US.