CAIRO: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who visited Cairo on Thursday, offered both aid and trade to Egypt. In a push to the tourism sector in Egypt which suffered significantly following 18 days of massive protests that overthrew the former regime of Hosni Mubarak, the visiting minister said he cancelled his department's recent warnings against travel in Egypt, encouraging German tourists to resume vacations on the Red Sea and in the Nile Valley. Westerwelle also called for the European Union to reduce trade barriers to Egypt's exports and said German companies were keen to invest in the energy sector in Egypt. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, during his meeting with his German counterpart, encouraged German tourists to return to Egypt and stressed the importance of maintaining German investments in Egypt. Westerwelle also met with Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and several opposition figures, not including the Muslim Brotherhood. He said Germany would help Egypt's transformation to a democracy, but would not be forcing any aid on Egyptians. He said his visit is for the purpose of supporting democracy on the one hand, and on the other hand, he believes Egypt now needs economic prospects, so that the people can see that more democracy also leads to more prosperity. Before Westerwelle's trip, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, US under-secretary of state for political affairs William Burns, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini all paid visits to Cairo to encourage Egypt`s transition to democracy. BM
