Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday evening discussed with visiting French President Jacques Chirac the latest developments of the Middle East region, especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Iranian nuclear file.

After the meeting with Chirac, Mubarak told reporters that he was satisfied with the constructive talks with the French president.

The two sides agreed that world leaders should find a means to continue aid to the Palestinians despite the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)'s assumption of power.

"We must find a way for aid to be distributed to all the Palestinian population, under terms agreed upon with the Palestinian National Authority," Chirac said.

Mubarak, on his part, said that continued aid to the Palestinians was essential to regional peace. "If you leave the Palestinian people without aid, work or medical treatment, then we should expect that they will all turn into extremists."

Both presidents denounced the Palestinian suicide attack that killed nine people in Israel's Tel Aviv on Monday.

On the Iranian nuclear issue, the two leaders said they were opposed to military intervention in Iran, citing fear that it would destabilize the Middle East region and the world as a whole.

"We have to explore all the possibilities offered by a diplomatic option in order to avoid a destabilization of the Middle East, and probably of the rest of the world," said Chirac.

The meeting also touched upon the latest developments on the Lebanese-Syrian arena, the implementation of all relevant United Nations (UN) resolutions, the situation in Iraq, along with the situation in Sudan's conflict-plagued western region of Darfur.

The two leaders also took up means of boosting bilateral ties.

Chirac and his wife arrived here Wednesday on a two-day official visit to Egypt.

Source: Xinhua