Report: Presidents Assad, Mubarak to convene a summit

The Egyptian magazine al-Ihram al-Arabi has reported that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad may hold a summit meeting before the end of the holy month of Ramadan in Cairo to agree on the mechanism to coordinate their stances in the framework of Arab-Israeli negotiations.

In its today's issue the paper added, quoting an Egyptian diplomatic source, that President al-Assad is expected to visit Egypt during the holy month of Ramadan.

The paper added that the aim of the coordination mechanism is to assert Egypt's backing for Syria in the negotiations with Israel.

The paper continued that principles of such Egyptian-Syrian coordination were reviewed during the visit carried out by Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa to Damascus on December 12. The paper said Bashar al-Assad, son of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, will make the continued contacts between the two capitals.

However, the last meeting between President Mubarak and President al-Assad goes back to last January when President Mubarak visited Syria.