CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak will visit the US Aug. 18 to meet with President Barack Obama in lieu of the visit he was due to make last May, it was announced. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement Monday that Mubarak and Obama "will discuss the full range of issues of common concern - including Middle East peace, combating extremism and other regional threats, and promoting reform across the Arab world - as well as how to strengthen the bilateral relationship. "The president looks forward to building on his discussions with President Mubarak during his visit to Cairo on June 4, he added. Mubarak had originally been slated to meet Obama in the US on May 26, but the passing of the President's grandson only a week before resulted in the cancellation. "We will certainly welcome his visit to Washington and the meeting with President Obama, US Ambassador Margaret Scobey told reporters Monday following a meeting with Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who denied reports that the US was including Egypt in a regional military defense system. While regional issues was on the agenda described by Gibbs, opposition in Egypt are concerned that Mubarak may also be seeking US support for handing down the presidency to his son Gamal. Opposition MP and head of the Karama party Saad Aboud told Daily News Egypt, "It will be discussed behind closed doors because the succession of power in Egypt is of great importance to US interests, and they will not leave it to circumstance. "Their national security extends to encompass the globe and there is also Israel and petrol in the region, so they have their own interests. Don't believe their talk of democracy, if they see their interests being served by Gamal Mubarak succeeding his father they will tacitly back it, he added. Since assuming office in January, Obama has been conciliatory towards Egypt and chose Cairo as the venue for a June 4 speech in which he addressed the Muslim world. This is at odds with the policy of the previous US administration, which was severely critical of the Egyptian regime regarding the progress of democracy and human rights. Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told Daily News Egypt that Mubarak's visit was merely to make up for the visit he was supposed to make to the US earlier this year. "This meeting is really just the rescheduling of the meeting that was supposed to take place earlier in the year before the President's grandson died, he said. As a result, says Baghat, he is not expecting any noteworthy developments on the issue of human rights. "The meeting will instead focus on regional issues rather than domestic issues. Even if at some point domestic issues are brought up we're not expecting any grand initiatives, he said. Mubarak has not visited the US since 2004, a testament to the tense relationship between him and Obama's predecessor George W. Bush. During Bush's tenure, Congress suspended $100 million in economic aid earmarked for Egypt. However the bill had a clause that allowed then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to rescind the suspension within an allotted time frame.
