Mubarak briefs UAE president on Egypt's views over financial crisis

Egyptian president holds comprehensive, fruitful talks with Indian leadership

Talks in India tackle regional, international issues, Indian industrial zone in Egypt

Terror must not be linked to any certain religion or geographic area, says Mubarak

Egyptian presidential spokesman Soliman Awwad said that President Hosni Mubarak briefed the head of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nuhayyan, on Egypt's viewpoint toward the world economic meltdown.

In statements to the Egyptian TV, Awwad said that Egypt is in need of more investments to increase the economic growth rate and create more job opportunities.

Awwad underlined cooperation between Egypt and the Gulf states in the field of investments.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and United Arab Emirates Head of State Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyyan, held a one-on-one session of talks.

The two leaders discussed the latest regional developments, international and regional issues of mutual concern, the global financial crisis and ways of boosting bilateral ties.

The talks were held at Al Butain Palace immediately after Mubarak's arrival on a two-day visit.

Sheikh Khalifa will host a luncheon later in the day in honor of President Mubarak and his accompanying delegation.

The Egyptian president is accompanied by a high-level delegation, grouping Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit, Information Minister Anas el-Fiqi, Trade and Industry Minister Rashid Mohammed Rashid, Communications and Information Technology Minister Tarek Kamel, Minister Omar Suleiman, Presidential Cabinet Chief Zakaria Azmi and Presidential Spokesman Suleiman Awwad.

President Mubarak arrived in Abu Dhabi from New Delhi following a four-day visit to India.

Egypt will took in an energy conference in Abu Dhabi to examine, over three days, the development of nuclear energy in the Gulf.

The 14th Annual Energy Conference hosted by the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), headed by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and UAE Deputy Commander of Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed ben Zayed al Nuhayyan.

President Hosni Mubarak and UAE Head of State Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nuhayyan resumed their talks here at the residence of President Mubarak.

The two Arab leaders had talks on means of activating inter-Arab action and boosting joint Arab cooperation along with the recent developments at the regional and international levels.

The two leaders had held earlier in the day at al-Butain presidential palace talks immediately after the arrival of President Mubarak to Abu Dhabi from India.

The talks dealt with several issues including the current international financial crisis and bilateral relations.

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's visit to India gave a strong push to Egyptian-Indian relations, said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Singh welcomed Egypt's chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement, highlighting its role in promoting peace at the regional and international levels.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said President Mubarak and Indian Premier Manmohan Singh reviewed Egyptian-Indian relations and means of boosting them in all fields.

Mubarak's visit to India and his talks with the Indian premier highlighted keenness of both countries to promote their cooperation, he added.

Mubarak and Singh discussed regional and international developments, including the situation in the Middle East, the Palestinian-Israeli peace process as well as the current economic developments, he said.

Mubarak had arrived in New Delhi on a four-day visit for talks with President Pratibha Patil.

Mubarak was welcomed at the airport by Indian Water Resources Minister Saif-u-Din Soz.

Mubarak was accompanied by a high-level delegation, grouping Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit, Information Minister Anas el-Fiqi, Trade and Industry Minister Rashid Mohammed Rashid, Communications Minister Tarek Kamel, Minister Omar Suleiman, Presidential Cabinet Chief Zakaria Azmi and Presidential Spokesman Suleiman Awwad.

Upon arrival at the presidential palace, Mubarak and his spouse were accorded a red-carpet reception.

Then, Mubarak laid a wreath on the Memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement, and writes a word in the book of visitors.

At his residence, Mubarak met Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee followed by an expanded session of talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that will tackle boosting bilateral relations in all domains.

President Hosni Mubarak stressed that Egyptian-Indian relations are deeply-rooted and developing.

During an official meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mubarak said "my current visit to India is meant to underline our desire to further ties with India."

Official delegations of the two sides attended the meeting held at the Indian cabinet premises.

Mubarak said "our agenda today includes a large number of issues pertaining to bilateral relations as well as regional and international developments."

Mubarak said "I am satisfied with the leap realized in trade and investment cooperation with India during the past few years."

Mubarak added "I am confident that the two countries will further cement their relations within the coming years."

President Mubarak said Egypt has carried out economic reforms similar to those implemented by India in the 1990s when Premier Singh was then a finance minister. Egypt was driven to do so by its desire to keep itself better connected with the international economic system, he said.

Mubarak said "the two countries have economic success stories which represent the bedrock for strategic partnership between them."

"I highly appreciate India's support for the Palestinian issue and its efforts to realize peace and stability in the Middle East," he said.

"India also plays a key role in realizing peace and security in Asia, especially in western Asia," he added.

Mubarak said "threats of terror and globalization challenges are common denominators between India and Egypt."

He went on to say that "both countries faced a big crisis of hiking food and energy prices and now the two are concerned about the international economic downturn."

"We exert joint efforts to defend the interests of developing countries under the G77 and Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)," Mubarak said.

Mubarak invited Singh to visit Egypt for further talks.

Egypt and India are members of NAM which is an international organization of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

They are also members of the Group of 77 (G77) which was established on 15 June 1964 by seventy-seven developing countries signatories of the "Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Countries" issued at the end of the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva.

Although the members of the G-77 have increased to 130 countries, the original name was retained because of its historic significance.

Mubarak said that his consultations with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh covered a wide range of regional, global and bilateral issues.

Addressing a joint news conference with Singh, Mubarak said that they had a fruitful discussion on the situation in the Middle East and West Asia; as well as the role of both countries in the maintenance of international peace and security.

Mubarak said that on global issues "we agreed that we were faced with a financial crisis of massive proportions."

"This crisis required that all countries, developed and developing move on two fronts: the first is to address the immediate recessionary pressures in the world economy. Related efforts need to be coordinated across nations and aimed, in developing countries, towards the less privileged in our societies. The second front, regards the restructuring of the international financial architecture."

"We agreed that the various groupings of countries now attempting to address this issue need to ensure that all world regions are properly represented. In addition, any proposals for reshaping the present economic order need to be discussed in broadly-based fora," he said.

India and Egypt commit to ensure that the issues relevant to emerging market economies receive the appropriate attention in these discussions, the Egyptian president told the news conference.

On other issues of global reach, "we underscored the need for concerted collective action against terrorism. We also had a very useful discussion on how best to confront such global challenges as food and energy security as well as poverty alleviation and climate change," Mubarak said.

"In this respect, we stressed the importance of effective economic, social, security and environmental policies as part of our globalization era," he said.

"On bilateral issues, our talks affirmed a mutual determination to continue a high-level political dialogue and to build upon the remarkable increase in trade and investment we realized in the last few years," the Egyptian president said.

"We agreed to continue working together to serve the interests of the developing countries within the Non-Aligned Movement, the United Nations, the WTO, the Bretton Woods institutions and other international fora," he also said.

"Our consultations were extremely productive; reflecting the historic friendship between Egypt and India over the decades ... as well as our shared values, priorities, challenges and concerns," Mubarak told the news conference.

"My current visit to India comes to give a new strong momentum to our historic relations and partnership," the Egyptian leader said.

"Likewise and to achieve the same end, I addressed today my invitation to Prime Minister Singh to visit Egypt; in order to reciprocate his warm welcome and hospitality; and to continue our consultations on all issues of common interest," he said.

President Mubarak is a great statesman and a highly respected world leader, the Indian premier told reporters.

"My talks with President Mubarak were extremely productive. They were held in a spirit of great friendship and warmth, which has always been the hallmark of relations between India and Egypt," he said.

"The visit has opened a new chapter in our relations. We have both agreed that all the conditions are ripe for transforming our relations to correspond to contemporary realities. We have agreed to make up for lost time, and to elevate our relations to a level that reflects our mutual strengths and complementarities," Singh said.

"The Agreements that have been signed and the Joint Declaration that has been issued cover many new areas of cooperation, including space and health. The establishment of a strategic dialogue at the level of the two Foreign Ministers reflect our intention to upgrade our relations. We have agreed to work together to combat terrorism and signed an extradition treaty," he said.

"Our total bilateral trade has increased four fold in the last five years and now exceeds US$ 3 billion. However, this is still below the potential and we agreed that more efforts were required. We agreed to expand cooperation in priority areas such as hydrocarbons, information technology, agriculture and biotechnology," the Indian prime minister told the news conference.

He also said: "We had a detailed discussion on several regional and international issues of mutual interest. I conveyed to President Mubarak India's consistent support to the Palestinian cause, and the fact that peace and stability in West Asia are in India's vital interest. We have great regard for the role which Egypt is playing in the region."

"There was a strong commonality of views on issues of concern to developing countries. I conveyed our full support to President Mubarak for Egypt's forthcoming chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement. We have agreed to work closely on major challenges like the global financial crisis, energy security, food security, climate change, reform of international institutions and terrorism," the Indian premier said.

"I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate President Mubarak on the conferment of the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding," he said.

"It is my firm belief that time has come for India and Egypt to re-kindle the special nature of our bilateral relations based upon the immense goodwill that exists between our two peoples," he also said.

President Mubarak also received in Indian Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee.

They discussed Egyptian-Indian relations and coordination on issues of mutual concern on the regional and international arenas.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit attended the meeting.

Indian President Pratibha Patil hosted a dinner banquet in honor of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Mrs. Mubarak at the Indian presidential palace in New Delhi.

During the dinner banquet, Mubarak stressed the importance of tackling the root causes of armed struggles and international terrorism to achieve economic growth.

The president praised India's success in achieving progress in the fields of information technology and communications.

Patil hailed as deeply-rooted her country's relations with Egypt.

Addressing a dinner banquet in honor of visiting President Mubarak, Patil said "the history of our relations as two ancient lands is being rediscovered each day. Our ties date to Pharaonic times."

"In the Roman period, there were well-established trade routes linking ports in Western and Southern India to those on the Red Sea."

"Most recently, archaeologists have been unearthing an important site at Berenike on Egypt's Red Sea coast that promises to revolutionize our understanding of the wide extent of these ancient maritime and commercial links that must have also brought us together as kindred cultures," Patil said.

In modern times, India and Egypt were brought together by common struggles and shared aspirations, the Indian president said.

"We are aware of the friendship and mutual respect between Mahatma Gandhi and Sa'ad Zaghloul. Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad did much to revitalize India's political and cultural links to Egypt," she said.

"After Indian independence in 1947 and the July 1952 Revolution in Egypt, strong ideological bonds developed between our two countries, leaders and peoples,' she added.

As young nations, Egypt and India share the goals and values for consolidating national independence and sovereignty as well as for achieving socio-economic development and raising the standard of living of their people, Patil said.

She described President Mubarak's visit as "major landmark" in the history of bilateral ties.

The visit "comes after a long gap of over twenty-five years but is, nevertheless, another major landmark in the long history of our relations as civilizations and nations," she said.

"We are pleased to welcome you not only as the representative of an ancient civilization, but also as the leader of a friendly and vibrant nation which has been making impressive achievements in recent years in promoting socio-economic development and economic growth," she said.

Patil underscored the importance of Egypt's membership in the Non-Aligned Movement.

"We are confident that Egypt will contribute to the revitalization of NAM during its forthcoming chairmanship," Patil said.

"We share a common interest in combating international terrorism that threatens the stability and security of nation-states and violates the most basic of human rights, namely the right to life," she added.

Shifting to economic cooperation, the Indian president said "I am happy that Indian investments in Egypt have been increasing steadily and are poised to exceed US$ 2 billion within the next two years."

"India is ready to share its development experience with close friends such as Egypt," she said.

Egypt's role at the international level won plaudit from the Indian leader. "We have also admired Egypt's important role in contributing to peace in West Asia, a region that we ourselves regard as our extended neighborhood," she said.

As for the Mideast conflict, the Indian president said her country "has consistently voiced its unequivocal support for the Palestinian cause and for the peace process in West Asia."

"In this regard, we look forward to working closely with Egypt and benefiting from its wise counsel," she said.

Mubarak said prospects for Egyptian-Indian relations in the coming few years are "bright and promising".

The bilateral relationship rests on a historic solid foundation and the mutual interests are widening, he told the widely-distributed The Times of India in its edition last week.

Egypt and India are intent on promoting their relationship and boosting the existing cooperation, he said in his interview.

Political consultations are maintained on regional and international issues, he said.

Egypt and India can do a lot to serve the interests of developing states within the framework of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77, Mubarak told The Times of India.

They can also contribute to maintaining peace and security at the regional and international levels, he said.

Egyptian-Indian relations can be boosted in the spheres of oil, gas, information technology and communications, textiles, iron and steel, petrochemicals, fertilizers, cement and construction materials, auto manufacturing and others, Mubarak said.

President Mubarak said contacts were underway to establish an Indian industrial zone in Egypt and to sign a comprehensive agreement to promote Egyptian-Indian trade and investment cooperation.

Turning to terrorism, he said it was an international phenomenon that needed concerted action to be confronted.

Intensive global efforts are required to win the battle against terror in all parts of the world, the Egyptian president said.

He denied there was such thing as Islamic terror.

Terror must not be linked to any certain religion or geographic area, it grows and rises in any land, Mubarak said.