Au revoir Chirac

---

Click to view caption

PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak arrived in Paris on Sunday on a three-day visit to France during which he held talks with French President Jacques Chirac who will soon step down as president.

Mubarak also met Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative front-runner in the French presidential elections.

A recent poll gave Sarkozy 30 per cent of the vote, Socialist Ségolène Royal 26 per cent and centrist François Bayrou 17 per cent.

Egyptian diplomats say Cairo has no problem with any of the candidates and is determined to continue to solidify what one termed "a special and close Egyptian-French relationship.

"It is true that President Mubarak and Chirac had a particular chemistry and understanding but the message the president was sending in Paris this week is that he is willing to continue to work with the next head of the Elysee to serve the mutual interests of both countries and the cause of stability in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean," one diplomat said.

Mubarak's visit was mainly aimed at bidding farewell to Chirac, with whom Mubarak worked so well and so closely on a number of regional issues, especially the Arab-Israeli conflict and the situation in Lebanon and Iraq.