By NNN-KUNA
Cairo : Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit has said that Kuwait would play host to the coming meeting of Iraq’s neighbours in April.
The meeting will be attended by the G8, Egypt and Iraq’s neighbouring countries.
Abul Gheit made the remarks at a joint news conference Tuesday following a meeting with visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari earlier in the day.
The coming meeting of Iraq’s neighbours could largely ease out Iranian-US tensions, he said.
Abul Gheit added that he had discussed with his Iraqi counterpart recent Iranian-American tensions and relevant impacts on regional security.
He dismissed as untrue reports that Egypt might resend an ambassador to Iraq shortly.
They also mulled over ways and means of further promoting Egyptian-Iraqi cooperative ties in all domains. But, he said he had asked Zebari for a detailed report on the circumstances of former Egyptian ambassador in Iraq Ihab al-Sharif’s assassination.
Asked about repeated visits by US congressmen to Egypt, the Egyptian foreign minister said: “It is not the first time for US delegations to visit Egypt and tour Egyptian-Israeli borders and Egyptian-Palestinian borders.”
“I do not mind that US congressmen visit Egypt and its borders. By doing so, they can realise the truth of the situation which Israel seeks to promote in a manner that runs counter to reality,” he said, referring to Israeli claims of smuggling weapons from Egypt to Palestinians.
In this context, he said Egypt would receive sophisticated equipment from the US to stop the alleged smuggling of weapons through tunnels between Egypt and Gaza.
For his part, the Iraqi foreign minister said the security situation in Iraq had recently improved, claiming that terrorist attacks and indiscriminate killings had dwindled away by 60-70 per cent.
Thanks to the meetings of Iraq’s neighbouring countries, the security situation is really improving, he added. He said he had discussed with his Egyptian counterpart how to devise a joint Iraqi-Egyptian vision of bilateral economic, trade, cultural and security relations.