Egypt’s Aboul Gheit to visit Turkey

In addition to his counterpart, Ahmet Davutoğlu, Aboul Gheit will also hold talks with President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the visit.

According to Zaki's statement, Aboul Gheit is expected to convey a message from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to President Gül and plans to discuss with Erdoğan the launching of an intergovernmental strategic cooperation council between the two countries.

During the visit, the third round of strategic dialogue sessions between Egypt and Turkey will be held, Zaki said, referring to sessions being held under the Memorandum for a Framework for Turkish-Egyptian Strategic Dialogue, which was signed in the autumn of 2007. The memorandum is considered a show of mutual will of the two countries to upgrade their bilateral relations to the level of a strategic partnership. According to the memorandum, the ministers and senior officials from the two countries will hold regular meetings and establish consultation and cooperation mechanisms.

Zaki said Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, Iraq, the upcoming January referendum in Sudan, developments in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear program, the Balkans and Euro-Mediterranean cooperation will be on the agenda of Aboul Gheit's talks in addition to bilateral relations between Ankara and Cairo.