President Hosni Mubarak granted Monday an interview to Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger on the occasion of Swiss President Pascal Couchepin visit to Egypt.
Tages Anzeiger, also abbreviated Tagi or TA, is a Swiss national daily newspaper based in Zurich.
Among newspapers in Switzerland, it has one of the largest circulations.
President Mubarak said, in the interview run by Astrid Frefel, the Middle East is in need of peace, security, stability and development.
The Arab world has clear stances as regards issues of the region, the president said, referring to the Arab initiative on the Arab-Israeli conflict and sustained Arab contacts for settling the Lebanese crisis.
In reply to a question on Iraq and relations between Baghdad and Washington, the President said what is important now is stemming bloodshed, restoring calm and stability and rendering the political process successful in a way that preserves Iraq's identity, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
As regards the Iranian nuclear crisis, President Mubarak expressed hope that it would be peacefully solved, warning that resorting to the use of force might lead the Gulf area, the Middle East and the entire world to a dangerous slope.
President Mubarak said in the interview that the Annapolis meeting came after seven years of hiatus in the peace process, pointing out that reaching a peace agreement depends on Israel's halting of its settlement activities, ending its practices in the Palestinian lands and taking part in the negotiations in good faith.
The negotiations will not be starting from a scratch. The Palestinian and Israeli sides were about to reach agreements on the final status issues during the Taba talks in January 2001, the President said.
They could resume from there and reach an agreement on borders, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, water and security arrangements issues.
Egypt will continue to contact both sides and the Arab parties and the Quartet to follow up the agreements that were reached in Annapolis, the President said.
The contacts aim at having the negotiations lead up to a peace agreement that would make the Palestinian state a reality, end the suffering of the Palestinian people and further pave the way for the Syrian and Lebanese peace tracks, the President said.
Asked about rifts among the Palestinians and Egypt's mediation to reach a political consensus, President Mubarak told the Swiss newspaper Egypt has always sought unity of the Palestinian ranks, referring to hosting three rounds of dialogue in 2005 that ended up with the Cairo Declaration.
The President voiced hope that the declaration would represent a strong basis for ending disputes and unifying stances.
President Mubarak said that it is not in the best interest of the Palestinian cause that such division between the West Bank and Gaza continues, referring to his call for a four way summit in Sharm El Sheikh in June featuring the Jordanian monarch, the Palestinian president, the Israeli prime minister and himself.
He said he warned at the summit against rifts among the Palestinian factions and called for dialogue that would end differences and restore unity of ranks.
Asked about the struggle of force between US, Iran and Syria in terms of having a great influence on the region especially Lebanon, President Mubarak said the Middle East has witnessed several crises and needs peace, security, stability and development.
"The latest developments in Lebanon is purely a Lebanese matter and no party from inside or outside the region should interfere," he said.
However, Syria has an occupied land in the Golan Heights and comprehensive peace would not be complete without restoring the Syrian sovereignty.
As for Iran, the President said it is an important state in the region and could contribute to realizing peace and stability.
As for the ongoing row on Iran's nuclear file, the President called for continuing dialogue with more transparency on Iran's side and more flexibility on the international community's side, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the UN Security Council.
The Arab world has a clear stance regarding all these issues, he said, adding that contacts are going on to realize stability on the Lebanese arena.
The Arab League organized a meeting of foreign ministers this week on the Lebanese crisis at Egypt's and Saudi Arabia's request, he said, voicing hope that the crisis would be settled very soon in order not to have a negative impact on the upcoming Arab summit to be held in Damascus
Asked how would the establishment of a US military base in Iraq affect strategic balance of regional powers, President Mubarak told the Swiss newspaper that it is a matter that should be decided by the Iraqi people.
What is important now is to halt the bloodshed and restore stability and calm and render the political process successful in a way that protects Iraq's entity, stability, sovereignty and unity. As for the Iraqi refugees currently living in Egypt, the President said no one wants to stay away from home. He voiced belief that they are awaiting the improvement of conditions before returning to Iraq.
President Mubarak referred to some 70,000 Iraqi refugees hosted by Egypt.
Answering a question on whether Egypt's nuclear plans are associated with possessing modern technology and whether it was better for Egypt to resort to new modes of technology such as solar power, President Mubarak said the issue of energy and diversification of its sources is a topic preoccupying the whole world; the developing and developed countries alike.
Egypt is not an exception, said Mubarak, adding that Egypt does not possess huge resources of energy such as oil.
Egypt's needs of energy are mounting due to the acceleration of economic growth rates and increase of development projects along with the growing population rates, Mubarak explained.
Egypt has plans for harnessing renewable and undepleted power resources such as solar energy and wind operated energy, he pointed out, adding that these energy resources are planned to meet around 20 percent of Egypt's needs of power by the end of 2020.
Resorting to nuclear power has become a must in light of this state of affairs, said the President, adding that peaceful use of nuclear energy is a right guaranteed to all NPT signatories.
Answering a question on a gap between Egypt's rich and poor segments of the society while there are signs indicating that the Egyptian economy was faring well, President Mubarak said the government adopted over the past years a series of banking, customs and taxation reform measures that improved the investment atmosphere in the country.
Foreign investments in Egypt, he said, hit $ 11 billion against less than $2 billion three years ago.
“Egyptian economic growth rates hit now 7 % with the rate of unemployment decreasing to nine percent against 11 percent in the past,” he remarked.
The social dimension of reforms is always considered in a bid to maintain social justice in the country, said Mubarak, adding that efforts are being made to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor in Egypt.
“A recent report by the World Bank indicated that the rate of poverty in Egypt was coming down to 15 % in the current year against 19.4 % in 2005,” said Mubarak.
He further noted that economic reforms coincided with political and social reforms.
“All reform measures are being undertaken in a phased out manner to spare the ordinary citizen any abrupt change at all political, economic and social levels,” said the President.
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