Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak conferred today for close to four hours with President Francois Mitterrand in an openly proclaimed attempt to increase West European involvement in Middle East affairs. After the meeting, Mubarak said Mitterrand has accepted an invitation to go to Egypt and will visit Cairo later this year.
Mubarak, who is leaving tomorrow for Washington where he will confer with President Reagan, said he had raised no objection to Mitterrand’s forthcoming trip to Israel. On the contrary, he is reported to have told the President, that the trip can serve a useful purpose and further the cause of regional peace.
Mubarak, who met last week with Pope John Paul II and Italian leaders, is scheduled to confer on his way back from the U.S. with Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and West Germany’s Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.
Egyptian officials accompanying Mubarak on his first official trip abroad since his election say he wants to make his “peaceful intentions” known and obtain a deeper West European commitment to the search for peace.
France is one of the four European countries, with Holland, Italy and Britain, which has undertaken to provide troops for the Sinai peacekeeping force to be stationed there after Israel withdraws next April.
RELATIONS BETWEEN FRANCE AND EGYPT
Relations between Egypt and France are officially described as good and friendly. France is Egypt’s second main supplier of industrial goods, after America, and last year, sold $1 billion of industrial and
France is backing the Camp David agreements but also Cairo’s attempt to eventually re-enter the Arab fold and improve its relations with Moscow and the rest of the Soviet bloc.
In an interview on French television, Mubarak said last night that he is not worried by Israeli opposition to the Yamit withdrawal. “It is strictly an Israeli internal problem and no concern of ours,” he said. “We have signed a treaty with Israel. Israel is respecting its commitments and we respect ours.” He added: “I fully trust Menachem Begin’s promise” concerning the April withdrawal from Sinai.
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