Egyptian president starts visit to USA

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak left on Saturday for the United States on a six-day working visit for talks with US President Bill Clinton over developments of the Middle East peace process and bilateral relations.

Mubarak is expected to meet during his visit with a number of senior U.S officials, including the defense and foreign secretaries, congress leaders besides foreign relations committee members in the house of representatives.

Mubarak is also expected to discuss a number of issues, including the political aspects on the progress of the peace process in the middle east and means of pushing it forward on all tracks and the importance of implementing the signed agreements in this respect by Israel.

Other files expected to be touched by Mubarak are regional issues including Iraq, Lockerbie, the Eritrean-Ethiopian border dispute, besides international issues of common concern such as the India-Pakistan conflict and Kosovo.

Mubarak is also expected to discuss ways of boosting bilateral economic relations between Cairo and Washington and encouraging investments in Egypt as a prelude to holding negotiations over the establishment of the free trade zone between the two countries.

The two sides are to sign three agreements to boost trade exchanges and attract more U.S. investments into Egypt besides the exploitation of new technologies in energy generation.