A diplomatic source has told Al-Masry Al-Youm that Cairo has started preparing the agenda for President Hosni Mubarak's upcoming visit to Washington. The White House announced yesterday that this visit would take place before June 6.
The diplomatic source stressed the importance of Mubarak’s visit to the U.S., as the last one dated back to the first quarter of 2003.
He also said the two leaders would talk about different topics, especially the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iran, and strengthening bilateral relations.
The source said that President Mubarak would try to take advantage of the US administration’s moderation regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict to get Obama to put pressure on Israel so that it became more flexible regarding the two state-solution.
He added the visit would also focus on bringing Egypt and US’s views closer concerning Iran, strengthening bilateral relations and boosting strategic dialogue between Cairo and Washington after the stalemate during the Bush administration.
White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday the US administration was working to set the dates of the three separate visits of Mubarak, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
He also said the administration aimed to strengthen bilateral relations with these three States and to discuss the peace process.
For his part, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the press yesterday that the US and Egypt were having consultations on the visit.
Meanwhile, a diplomatic source said the visit was likely to take place at the end of May.
Aboul Gheit pointed out that the Egyptian president would be the last one to visit the U.S.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told AFP that U.S. President Barack Obama would meet with the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas on May 28.
For his part, Dr. Wahid Abdel Magued, Vice-President of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said the fact President Mubarak’s visit was among others meant that U.S.-Egyptian relations would not return to what they used to be like before they worsened under the Bush administration.
Abdel Magued said that contacts between Egypt and the U.S. started two months ago, and that Mubarak’s visit to Washington should have been independent. He then pointed out that the U.S. Administration could not bring its relations with Egypt back to what they used to be as Egypt had not developed its regional role and its foreign policy.
"Egypt has not changed and has taken some steps only when it comes to the peace process" Abdel Maguid affirmed, adding that Egypt for the U.S. was the only mediator in the peace process and no one knew whether it would eventually be successful.
There is a stalemate when it comes to Egypt’s interior and exterior policies and this is dangerous for the country" he affirmed.
"Even in the peace process, Egypt’s performance has significantly decreased and Cairo hasn’t been able to heal the rifts among the Palestinians" he went on to say.
He said Egypt’s foreign policy lacked so much imagination that the country could not see the danger coming from Sudan, noting that Egypt’s played no role on its southern borders.
"Sudan-related risks increase every day, yet Egypt is playing a smaller role than the one played by much smaller countries" he affirmed.