CAIRO, 25 February 2005 — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called on the United States and Europe yesterday to translate their pledges to support the Middle East peace process into concrete action on the ground.
He made the appeal during a meeting in Cairo with visiting Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad told reporters.
US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair renewed support for the Middle East peace process during this week’s EU and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summits in Brussels.
Mubarak emphasized that the “positive signals that came out of the Brussels summit should be translated into movement on the ground,” according to Awad.
Such action should include lending “political support for the peace process and economic support and necessary aid to the Palestinian Authority and to improve the daily lives of the Palestinian people,” he added.
President Bush said in Brussels that “America and Europe have made a moral commitment: We will not stand by as another generation in the Holy Land grows up in an atmosphere of violence and hopelessness”.
The US vision is to see two states living side-by-side, Bush said, pledging to help the Palestinian Authority build economic, political and security institutions needed to govern.
De Gucht’s visit to Egypt was part of a tour of the region that will also include visits to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
