Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks Saturday in Riyadh with King Fahd on bilateral ties and the situation in the Arab world, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The agency said that Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, took part in the meeting, while Mubarak was accompanied by his political adviser, Ossama al-Baz, and information minister, Safwat Sherif.
SPA said the president later left Saudi Arabia, without specifying his destination, but an Egyptian diplomatic source said he was expected to travel on to Kuwait.
Egypt's state-run media said earlier that Mubarak and the Saudi leadership would discuss the impact of next month's Israeli elections on the Palestinians as well arrangements for an Arab summit in March.
Cairo-Riyadh ties and "issues concerning Arab and Islamic nations" were also on the agenda, said AFP.
According to sources close to the Egyptian delegation, Mubarak was also to mediate between Iraq, on the one hand, and its neighbors Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, on the other hand, added AFP.
On the bilateral front, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have yet to agree on a free trade zone despite the efforts of a joint economic cooperation panel which met in Riyadh earlier this month.
Iraq and Egypt signed a free trade agreement in Cairo on January 18 -- Albawaba.com
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