The White House has announced that US President Barack Obama's visit to Cairo will include a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak, a speech to the Islamic world from Cairo University, and a visit to a mosque. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama would leave Saudi Arabia early on Thursday morning to head to Cairo. He will then leave the Egyptian capital on Thursday evening to fly to Germany.
At a press conference on Friday, Gibbs said that the speech that Obama intended to deliver from Cairo would complete the dialogue that he had started with the Islamic world through his swearing-in speech. He also said the President's foreign tour would be a reminder of the past and would allow looking forward to the future. Gibbs pointed out that Obama's speech would sum up his personal commitment to dialogue on the basis of mutual interests and respect. He also said Obama would discuss how the US and the Muslim communities across the world could bridge some of the differences that have divided them.
Gibbs said the president would review some issues of concern, such as violent extremism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and would discuss new areas of partnership.
At a press conference on the phone on Friday evening, a senior National Security Council staff member, Mark Lippert, said Obama would hold talks with President Mubarak, deliver a speech at Cairo University and visit a mosque. He also pointed out that Al-Azhar University would co-host the event at Cairo University.
A strategic communication official at the National Security Council, Denis McDonough, said it was important to stress that Egypt has been a strategic US ally for a long time and one of the main Arab and Islamic countries.
He added that Egypt has one of the youngest and most thriving populations, like many in the Islamic world, and that President Obama was indeed looking forward to engage in a direct dialogue with this youth through his speech and his meetings during his visit there. McDonough pointed out that the United States should give credit to Islamic sciences and that Obama wanted to say that the US believed this visit was an opportunity for the country. He then pointed out that a large share of knowledge from the Islamic world had contributed to the US current status. In particular, he mentioned the scientific contributions from Baghdad, technology from Andalusia, and more.
He pointed out that the US was partner of the Islamic world for several decades and was willing to restore this partnership based on common values.
US Associated Press said Obama's speech in Cairo would be his final effort to repair the damage inflicted to US relations with the Islamic world.
