President Mubarak heads Wednesday 30/7/2008 for Kampala for a one-day visit on his way back home.

Ambassador Suleiman Awwad attached great importance to the Uganda stop, saying Mubarak had not been there since he was Vice President in the 1980s.

A session of talks with President Yoweri Museveni will deal with bilateral relations in all aspects, especially in the economic and trade domains, the spokesman said.

The talks will also deal with the possibility of implementing joint projects between Egypt and Uganda in the agricultural sector to confront the crisis of the prices of foodstuffs that casts its shadows on the developing countries including the African ones.

He pointed out that joint projects on the table are cultivating large expanses of Uganda's lands with Egyptian expertise and investments in olives and seeds that both Egypt and Uganda need.

The spokesman highlighted the visit of Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga and Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza to Uganda recently where they explored use of the Ugandan lands in cultivating several crops and agricultural products to be irrigated by rainfalls.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has promised to give Egyptian companies a priority in agricultural schemes in Uganda, said the spokesman as he pointed out to Egypt's interest in such projects so as to secure food supplies on the Egyptian market at affordable prices.

The spokesman also referred to Uganda's interest in exporting meat to Egypt, given the vast pastures in the country.

Uganda holds an important place on the Egyptian agenda as 15 percent of the Nile waters flow from Lakes Victoria and Albert, said the spokesman.

It is an important Nile basin country and the Nile artery is vital for aspects of Egyptian national security, he added.

Awwad referred to the Nile Basin initiative of 1999 launched by President Mubarak, saying it was a framework for cooperation and not for rivalry over the waters, especially with the growing water scarcity in the world.

The agreement was faltering over a controversial paragraph that Egypt and Sudan supported, namely that this cooperation should not affect existing agreements, he said.

Uganda is an important Nile Basin country which has relations with southern Sudan and it has influence on conditions in Sudan and on the Nile Basin countries, the spokesman added.