Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki arrived here Sunday on a visit to Egypt, starting a regional tour for preparatory talks ahead of two international conferences on Iraq in early May on ways to help the war-torn country, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported.

Maliki is scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa later in the day for talks on recent developments in Iraq, bilateral relations and means to activate the Arab role in supporting Iraq and pushing forward the political process in the Arab state.

After talks in Egypt, Maliki is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other regional states for preparatory talks ahead of the meetings to be held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el- Sheikh on May 3-4, according to Iraqi officials.

Iraq's neighboring countries conference will be attended by Egypt, Turkey and Jordan along with the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the G8 members, MENA said.

Another international meeting for the International Compact with Iraq, which is a larger group, also would be held in Egypt back to back to the first meeting.

About 50 countries will take part in the International Compact meeting with Iraq.

Earlier, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that the meetings aim to engage Iraq's Arab neighbors and the international community constructively in helping the Iraqi government restore stability and reconstruction.

Source: Xinhua