Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit's tour to the Gulf came amid Egypt's continuous efforts to boost bilateral as well as multilateral ties with other Arab states During his four-day tour which took him to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit met with top officials, attended bilateral committees and signed several memoranda of understanding. In Bahrain, the final leg of his tour, Abul- Gheit conveyed a message from President Hosni Mubarak to Bahraini King Hamad bin Eissa, met Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa and his counterpart Khaled bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa. He headed the joint Egyptian- Bahraini committee which aims to promote bilateral relations by meeting regularly. He also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). In Oman on Monday, Abul-Gheit met Omani Sultan Qabous bin Said and delivered a message from Mubarak on bilateral relations and issues of bilateral interest. He also headed the sixth round of the joint Omani-Egyptian committee and signed with his Omani counterpart Youssef bin Alawi three MOUs that organise cooperation between the two states in visa exemption for diplomats, environmental affairs and cooperation between the planning institutes in the two states. In Kuwait, Abul-Gheit met Kuwait's Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, delivering a message from President Mubarak to Kuwait's emir. He also headed the Egyptian delegation at the eighth round of the joint Egyptian-Kuwaiti committee in which representatives from 18 ministries from both sides were participants. Discussions centred on developments in bilateral relations between Egypt and Kuwait. Within this framework, Abul-Gheit and his Kuwaiti counterpart signed several MOUs concerning customs duties, cultural and scientific cooperation, population, cooperation between the national planning institutes, and tourism. It was also an opportunity to coordinate and exchange views between the two countries over the implementation of recommendations made during the Arab Economic and Social Development summit held in Kuwait in January 2009. On Iran's controversial nuclear ambitions which has a direct effect on the Gulf region, Abul-Gheit said Tehran was required to address the international community's fears over its nuclear programme. Asked why Egypt abstained from voting on a recent international resolution against Iran, he said Egypt had called on the Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany to add a clear-cut paragraph indicating that the Middle East should be a nuclear-free region, and when its request was not met, it declined to vote. But he underlined that Egypt sticks to its belief in the right of every country to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The first leg of Abul-Gheit's tour was Abu Dhabi where he met Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. He discussed in detail with his Emirates counterpart the recent developments in bilateral relations, particularly regarding the status of the Egyptian expatriate community in the UAE, in addition to the recent developments in a number of regional key issues, including Palestine, Iran, Yemen and the Horn of Africa. Abul-Gheit underlined that Egypt backs the UAE in its demand of three islands occupied by Iran: Tunb Greater, Tunb Lesser and Abu Moussa. Both UAE and Iran claim the islands are part of their territory. The Palestinian issue dominated Abul-Gheit's discussions in the four states. During his tour, he said Egypt was seeking to bring the Palestinians together to build a wider unified Palestinian front capable of facing Israel. He declared in Abu Dhabi that the coming days would witness more active Egyptian efforts to reconcile the Palestinian factions. The tour also afforded an opportunity to underline Egypt's support for the Gulf Cooperation Council. The council will meet next week in Kuwait.
