The outcome of President Hosni Mubarak's talks in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac was a joint statement calling for an international conference of "countries determined to save the peace" in the Middle East. This conference, to which "the protagonists" would be invited at a later stage, "would maintain and confirm all the existing accords and principles" and would "give a new hope, new momentum, to the peace process," the statement said. But saving the faltering peace, though a primary target of Mubarak's state visit that began on Monday, was not its only goal. High on the visit's agenda was greater economic cooperation and opening channels of dialogue between North and South. And with Egypt and France celebrating 200 years of cultural relations, Mubarak visited two rare exhibitions of Egyptian treasures. The call for an international peace conference was issued at a time when regional peace-making faced its worst crisis since the Oslo Accords in 1993. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has rejected a proposal by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for a 13.1 per cent withdrawal from the West Bank, throwing the peace process into jeopardy. Mubarak spoke by telephone Tuesday with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to explain the Egyptian-French call for an international conference. Arafat, who accepted the American proposals, met with Albright in London on Monday, but there was no breakthrough. "We, presidents of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the French Republic, express our extreme concern about the continuing deadlock in all aspects of the peace process in the Middle East," the joint statement said. "We are, in particular, seriously troubled by the lack of progress on the Palestinian track, despite the real efforts undertaken by the United States, which we supported as a step towards the relaunching of the peace process." The two presidents welcomed the "positive reaction of the Palestinians to the latest American proposals" and made "an urgent appeal to the Israeli government to respond in a positive and constructive manner to these proposals." Mubarak and Chirac said that "any additional delay in the resumption of the peace process can only lead to more frustration which, in turn, will inevitably lead to violence and instability as the latest developments have shown." They said that a "just, lasting and comprehensive peace" should be based on UN Security Council resolutions, "an exchange of land for peace and the realisation of the legitimate political rights of the Palestinian people. In our opinion that should lead to the realisation of the right of the Palestinian people to establish their own independent state on the basis of their right to self-determination," they said. The two presidents declared opposition to Israel's policy of establishing settlements in occupied territories and underlined the need for a resumption of talks on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, following talks with Mubarak on Tuesday, said that "France and Egypt cannot stand by and see this deterioration, let this impending catastrophe happen." Jospin said the joint call for an international conference "demonstrates the readiness of our two countries to do anything to avoid the worst." Mubarak said: "We hope for a more active and stronger French and European role to press upon Israel the necessity of respecting its commitments, to stick by its promises and not to put forward groundless pretexts for not doing so." A Foreign Ministry official in Cairo also said that what is taking place now are "consultations, not preparations." The most plausible scenario, he said, is that the conference will include the United States and Russia, the co-sponsors of the peace process, France, the current chair of the European Union, Norway, the sponsor of the Oslo agreement, Jordan and Egypt. In a later stage, the Palestinians and Israel will be invited. As for Syria and Lebanon, it is uncertain whether they will be ready to take part. "It must be made clear that we are not talking at all about Madrid Two," an official said, referring to the 1991 conference that brought the Arabs and Israelis together. "We are not ready to re-negotiate the terms of reference of the peace process. This conference is about dealing with the problem of Israeli intransigence." No decision has been taken to date on the date and venue. Possible sites are Egypt, France, Norway and the United States. Mubarak was accompanied on the three-day visit by 125 Egyptian businessmen, whose main concern was to reduce the trade deficit between the two countries, which is eight-to-one in favour of France. Addressing a meeting of Egyptian and French businessmen yesterday, Mubarak warned that the continued imbalance "would threaten our ability to receive such a large volume of imports in the future. Any move to reduce this deficit will serve the interests of both sides," he said. A joint venture for the manufacture of buses and trucks was signed between Egypt's Ghabbour group and Renault. Other ventures were launched for the production of cement and the expansion of the Egyptian mobile telephone network, with Telecom's assistance. Plans for opening a non-profit French university in Cairo were finalised. Mubarak's visit to the Ptolemaic and Fatimid exhibitions climaxed celebrations, titled "Egypt-France Common Horizons," marking 200 years of cultural relations. Mubarak and Chirac, visiting the Glory of Alexandria exhibition at the Petit Palais on Tuesday, were shown 300 Ptolemaic artifacts. These include a 14-tonne colossus of Ptolemy I which was salvaged from the Mediterranean by a French archaeological team working in Alexandria. Also on display were two sphinxes, the torso of a king, part of the obelisk of Seti I, a red granite bust of Alexander the Great -- all salvaged by Jean-Yves Empreure. Yesterday Mubarak visited the Institute du Monde Arabe where 200 Fatimid treasures are exhibited. They include woodwork mihrabs, jewelery boxes inlaid with ivory, bronze statues, hexagonal marble stands, votive inscriptions, rock crystal lamps and golden dinars bearing the names of Fatimid Caliphs.
