CAIRO, 9 May — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said yesterday he would meet Crown Prince Abdullah soon and that the talks might also include the Syrian president, Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.
Speaking to reporters, Mubarak also made lukewarm comments about US proposals for a Middle East peace conference, saying there had been many such gatherings in the past but little action had resulted.
Asked if Egypt and Arabs had formed a position toward the proposed conference, Mubarak said: "We have not talked about this peace conference. I don’t know its principles and on what basis it will be convened."
"We have held many conferences but what is important is what we implement. There have been very big conferences and agreements, but they were not implemented. If they had been implemented, we would not need any (more) conferences," he said.
Mubarak played down reports that he would hold a "mini Arab summit" with the Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, or other Arab leaders. Asked if there was a plan for such a summit soon, Mubarak was quoted by MENA as saying: "There is nothing (of that nature). The Saudi crown prince will come and I will meet him, and maybe somebody else will attend."
He did not mention a date, but a Saudi source earlier said Crown Prince Abdullah and Mubarak planned to meet on Saturday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
When asked if Syrian President Bashar Assad or Jordan’s King Abdallah would be present, the Egyptian president replied: "The Syrian president could attend and we welcome him. But King Abdallah is in America at the moment."
Earlier, the Saudi source had said Mubarak and Crown Prince Abdullah would discuss the US plan for a peace conference, on which the Kingdom and other Arab countries have so far been non-committal.
In March, Arab states backed Crown Prince Abdullah’s plan offering normal ties with Israel in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab land, the establishment of a Palestinian state and the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal arrived in Syria to brief President Bashar on talks with US officials and coordinate ahead of a meeting of Arab foreign ministers. But the prince remained cool on the idea of a regional peace conference which Washington hopes to hold this summer. "The important thing is that such a conference would not be an end in itself; it would be a means to an end, and the results would be the most important thing," Prince Saud told reporters on arrival at Damascus airport.
