DISCUSSING PEACE: An Egyptian-Omani summit began on Tuesday in Alexandria, with a meeting between President Hosni Mubarak and Oman's Sultan Qabbous Bin Said. The two leaders discussed the steps that had been taken by the Palestinian Authority (PA) towards the implementation of the roadmap, as well as Israel's intransigence regarding its own obligations towards the peace plan.
The seven-member Omani delegation also discussed the situation in Iraq with their Egyptian counterparts, focussing on the dire need for the rapid establishment of a representative Iraqi government as well as the role the United Nations must play in that process. Mubarak also briefed the Omani leader on the joint Egyptian-Saudi-Syrian initiative to strengthen and reform the Arab League.
Mubarak's meetings with the Omani delegation are the latest in a series of inter-Arab consultations meant to promote joint Arab action. Last week, Mubarak hosted Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah, who was on a regional tour that also included Syria and Morocco. Soon after the Cairo-Riyadh summit, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria formulated a joint initiative for Arab League reform, which is likely to be discussed further at the upcoming Arab summit in Tunis in March 2004.
