President Hosni Mubarak and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner held on Thursday 20/11/2008 a session of talks on a flurry of issues of mutual interest and means of boosting bilateral ties in the various fields.

President Mubarak welcomed Fernandez upon arrival at the Heliopolis presidential palace where an official ceremony was held. Mubarak and the Argentine President resumed their talks at a luncheon thrown in honor of Fernandez and her accompanying delegation.

The Argentine president was accompanied by Minister of Foreign Relations, International Trade and Worship Jorge Enrique Taiana, Minister of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services Julio de Vido and Minister of Science and Technology Lino Baranao.

The luncheon was also attended by the Argentine ambassador in Cairo in addition to a number of Egyptian ministers.

Presidential Spokesman Soliman Awwad said Mubarak considers Argentina as a friendly state to Egypt, noting that Egypt established diplomatic ties with Argentina in 1947.

During the meeting, Mubarak spelled out to Fernandez the situation in the Palestinian territories, particularly the closure of the seven crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip, Israel's building of the separation wall and Egypt's ongoing efforts to heal the rift among the feuding Palestinian factions, Awwad said.

He posted the Argentine leader on the latest developments in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, Awwad said.

Mubarak also touched on the conditions in Lebanon, Iraq and Sudan, especially Darfur, as well as the Iranian nuclear file and the situation in the Gulf and the Great Lakes regions. He tackled the upsurge in piracy along the Somali coast as well as the spiraling violence in Congo.

Mubarak and Fernandez also discussed means of cooperating to mitigate the fallout of the global economic downturn, presidential spokesman Awwad said.

Mubarak said developing countries should have a say in any international meeting on containing the economic crisis and reforming the international financial system.

During the meeting, Fernandez expressed deep appreciation to the role played by President Mubarak in realizing peace and stability in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Mubarak voiced hope that Egypt and Argentina would boost joint investments. Mubarak lauded cooperation between the two countries in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy.