Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday held a breakfast banquet in the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh in honor of his visiting French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported.
The two leaders held informal talks at the banquet, which was attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner, according to MENA and other sources.
Sarkozy, who is currently spending his Christmas vacation in Egypt, arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday evening after his three-day stay in Luxor, some 700 km south to Cairo.
The French president is expected to start a two-day formal visit to Egypt and meet with Mubarak in Cairo on Sunday.
The two leaders are expected to discuss steps that could be taken by the two sides to push forward the Middle East peace process, MENA said, adding that the situation in Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia and the western Sudanese region of Darfur as well as the Iranian nuclear file will also be tackled during their talks.
According to MENA, Egypt's cooperation with the EU in light of Sarkozy's initiative to set up a Mediterranean union will also be high on the agenda.
Sarkozy visited Egypt's tourist city Aswan in 2003 when he was France's interior minister.
Source: Xinhua
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