By Xinhua
Cairo : Egypt and Saudi Arabia hoped to boost ties as the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to form a joint committee for political consultation, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Monday.
In a statement, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Alaa el-Hadidi said that under the agreement, the committee will convene once a year under Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faysal bin Abdel-Aziz al-Saud.
The MoU came as part of efforts to strengthen political consultation between the two countries to coordinate stances and exchange views regarding issues of mutual concern, Hadidi added.
After his meeting with Abul Gheit earlier in the day, Faysal said that the MoU was a further materialization of an already existing bilateral coordination.
On U.S. President George W. Bush's overture to convene an international Mideast peace conference this Autumn, Faysal noted that it should be a conference to tackle main issues, such as the borders, the refugees' return and East Jerusalem.
The two foreign ministers met before the start of the Arab foreign ministers emergency meeting at the Arab League headquarters to tackle on efforts to revive the stalled Mideast peace process.