Posted on 11/02/2006 4:30:38 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Moscow - Russian President Vladimir Putin after talks Thursday with Egypt's Hosny Mubarak called for the Arab nation to be included in the so-called Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators.
'We are united in the need to increase the efficacy of negotiators' efforts in the Middle East. The Quartet will gain if joined by influential regional forces, in which number we, of course, place Egypt,' Putin said according to the Interfax news agency.
The Quartet of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations drew up a multiphase plan for peace - known as the road map - to bring stability to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 2005.
The Russian leader added that his country would coordinate its own position in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with Egypt.
'It's important to note that the approaches of our countries to the solution of most tough problems coincide,' Putin said, noting that also referred to Iran's uranium-enrichment programme and Iraq.
The Soviet Union was a major weapons supplier to Egypt and other Arabic countries, but since the communist state's collapse, relations between Moscow and the Arab world have cooled.
Russia is now manoeuvring to resume its place as a major powerbroker in the Middle East, as well as in the nuclear challenges of Iran and North Korea.
Amid a backdrop of talk of Russian economic and atomic involvement in Egypt, Mubarak's trip was the first state visit between the leaders since Putin went to Cairo in 2005.
'Egypt and Russia have traditional, historic relations,' Interfax quoted Mubarak as saying at the Kremlin. 'We always strive to develop them, and I always strive to meet with President Putin.'
Mubarak, who had studied in Moscow when it was the Soviet capital, said earlier this week he would advise Putin to stand for a third term in office after his second - and constitutionally final - term ends in 2008.
The Egyptian leader is an expert in political longevity - his presidency has so far lasted 25 years. However, former KGB agent Putin has made assurances he will step down as scheduled.
After opening the day laying a wreath before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the walls of the Kremlin, Mubarak retired with Putin for one-on-one talks followed by discussions with larger Russian and Egyptian delegations.
Talks also focused on bilateral ties, especially economic cooperation.
Russian Federal Industry Agency head Boris Alyoshin, a member of Putin's delegation, said after the talks that Russia had 'very decent chances' to win a construction tender for a planned Egyptian nuclear power plant, Interfax reported.
With new federal plans to build up to 15 nuclear plants on foreign territory every year, Russia recently announced it had secured a contract to build a 5.1 billion-dollar plant in Bulgaria.
The country's most controversial project is the light-water reactor it is building at Bushehr, south-west Iran.
Alyoshin also said Egypt would designate a 1 million-square-metre plot for a special economic zone for high-tech Russian industries.
He added that natural gas, pharmaceutical, weapons, automobile and aerospace production facilities could be included.
AvtoVAZ, Russia's largest carmaker, ships 150,000 cars per year to Egypt, according to Alyoshin. He said the producer of the stately, Soviet-era Volga and the infamous Lada could manufacture 10,000 in Egypt in the near future.
Trade between the countries was up 52 per cent in the first eight months of the year, Putin said, with the total figure for 2005 reaching 1.6 billion dollars.
Egypt's most famous export was also included in talks. Putin told reporters after the talks that Russian archaeologists had last month helped unearth an ancient pharaoh's tomb.
'We're counting on Russia being one of the first countries where the (recently) discovered rarities will exhibit,' Interfax quoted Putin as saying.
How about we drop Russia and make it a triplet?
That will take some fancy maneuvering and is probably not sustainable although there will be some periods of relative strength now and then. What is the UN doing in the mix with the US, the EC, and Russia?
The spoiler is Iran and it keeps setting up roadblocks to the imaginary road map.
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