Middle East News Agency, Egypt
April 14 2007

MUBARAK-KOCHARYAN DISCUSS MIDDLE EAST SITUATION

Cairo, 14 April: President Husni Mubarak’s talks with visiting
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on Saturday covered the latest
developments in the Middle East and Egyptian efforts to make a
breakthrough in the stymied Mideast peace process, Presidential
Spokesman Sulayman Awwad said.

He said the talks took up Armenia’s interest in arrangements
concerning East Jerusalem and in particular its Armenian quarter.

The two leaders also discussed the situation in Iraq, the Iranian
nuclear file -Armenia shares its southern borders with Iran- and
conditions in the Gulf, he said.

They also probed the situation in Central Asia with special focus on
the Armenian-Azeri conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, he said pointing
out that president Mubarak expressed his wish that the two countries
would be able to reach a peaceful settlement for their dispute in a
way that would bring about stability to Central Asia.

The spokesman said the Armenian president’s visit to Egypt
demonstrated a mutual wish to give a strong impetus to trade exchange
and joint investments and reach an agreement on the establishment of
a joint pharmaceutical company for the distribution of Egyptian
medicines in Armenia and other Central Asian countries.

He said the Armenian leader expressed keenness on the continuation of
bilateral technical cooperation in tourism, police and diplomatic
work through the Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s Fund for Technical
Cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States.

He also talked about his wish to reopen the Egyptian trade centre in
Armenia, Awwad said.

According to him, the Armenian president’s visit to Egypt will
witness the inking of a number of agreements and cooperation
protocols covering judicial fields, combat of organised crime,
customs and media – a cooperation agreement between the Middle East
News Agency and its Armenian counterpart will be signed. An agreement
will also be signed to set up a joint businessmen council, he added.

Awwad said president Kocharyan’s itinerary in Egypt includes meetings
with Grand Imam of al-Azhar Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi and Arab League
Secretary-General Amr Musa in addition to a visit to Luxor.

According to Awwad, the visit falls within the framework of President
Mubarak’s interest in consolidating ties with the Central Asia
republics. He underscored the trip paid by president Mubarak to
Kazakhstan last year, the one paid by the Kazakh president to Egypt
early this year, the meeting between president Mubarak and the Tajik
president in Egypt last month, the visit to be paid by the Uzbek
president to Cairo later this week and the planned meeting between
Mubarak and the Azeri president in Egypt next month.

Egypt was the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic
ties with Armenia after it announced its independence from the
defunct Soviet Union back in 1991, Awwad said highlighting the
constant coordination and contacts between the two countries at
international forums, especially the UN.