CAIRO - Means of boosting bilateral economic ties between Egypt and the US were the focus of talks held in Cairo between visiting Senior US Senator John Kerry and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf. The talks addressed the support Washington could offer to the Egyptian economy at the present stage following the ouster of Mubarak and the approval of constitutional amendments, likely to usher the country into a new era. Developments on the Arab scene were also addressed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Sharaf. The US ambassador in Cairo Margaret Scobey and Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation and Planning, Fayza Abul-Naga, attended. Kerry who arrived on Sunday, one day after the vote of the constitutional changes, described as “very exciting” the huge turnout for Egypt's first taste of democracy after the ouster of veteran president Hosni Mubarak on February 11. "People voted for the first time in 30 years, not knowing what the outcome would be and I think it's a very good sign for the steps ahead, a very good sign," he told reporters as he toured Cairo's iconic Al Tahrir Square, epicentre of the 18 straight days of mass protests that ended Mubarak's three-decade rule.