Permanent Representative to the UN, New York Maged Abdel fattah of Egypt

Presidential spokesperson Abdel Fattah said that President Mubarak will attend the African Union summit, set for Nigeria in January next year.

Answering a question on what Egypt expects from Israel, after the latter had released 170 Palestinians as a sign of goodwill, Abdel Fattah said that Egypt expected that Israel would start immediate political negotiations with the Palestinian side after the Palestinian elections to carry out the roadmap peace plan's item on setting up the state of Palestine.

Asked whether Egypt will send observers to monitor the coming Palestinian elections, Abdel Fattah said that Egypt was willing to do so if asked by the Palestinian side.

Touching on the issue of Darfur and the stalled peace talks in Abuja, Abdel Fattah said that Egypt was seeking together with other African countries to help in resuming the peace talks between Khartoum government and Darfur rebels in a bid that helps in settling the issue.

Abdel Fattah denied that the issue of normalising Arab relations with Israel was one of the topics on the agenda of Mubarak's talks in Manama and Kuwait.

Speaking of how the idea of the QIZ deal was born, Abdel Fattah said that the first initiative came from the Egyptian private sector when businessmen working in the textiles industry visited Israel and met with their counterparts there "and when that was done", the government was encouraged and things developed leading to QIZ's agreement.

Presidential Spokesman Maged Abdel Fattah said that Egypt was taking the Israeli peace commitment seriously.

Abdel Fattah has twice served with the Egyptian delegation to the UN.

Abdel Fattah says his first priority will be to ensure the state is more transparent to the media and the public.

Egypt's UN permanent representative Ambassador Maged Abdel Fattah said on 3/1/2009 that the Security Council held a meeting to discuss the draft resolution submitted by the Arab Group to the Security Council on 1/1/2009 to halt the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip.

Abdel Fattah said that the two sides reviewed implementation of six memos of understanding on the return of educational missions and cooperation in the fields of industry, health and meat exports.

Abdel Fattah said that work was intensified to complete the road linking Egypt with Sudan, adding that a stretch of some 218 kilometers of the road was yet to be completed.

Abdel Fattah said that the Egyptian-Sudanese talks also dealt with means to activate linkage between the two countries in the fields of railways, which suffer from some problems such as differences in the kind of railways.

planned funeral were underway, but that he could not reveal anything yet.

Abdel Fattah said it was too early to say either who was responsible for the Thursday bombings, the most serious attack on tourists in Egypt since 1997, or where the explosives came from or what was the purpose of the attacks.

Egypt's Ambassador to the United Nations Maged Abdel Fattah said on Wednesday the international community should now adopt a new approach in dealing with disarmament issues.

Presidential Spokesman Ambassador Maged Abdel Fattah said "Discussions focused on means to broaden the capacity of higher education by turning branches of existing universities into independent entities.

Mubarak often acts as a mediator between Israel and other Arabs, but Abdel Fattah said he had not offered to mediate in the Israeli-Syria impasse.

Abdel Fattah said Egypt saw no need for a third party to intervene and that "Israel knows exactly what is needed from it.

Abdel Fattah said after the ceremony Mr.

Abdel Fattah said talks about the details of the planned funeral were underway, but that he could not reveal anything yet.