The two heads of state had a one-to-one meeting before consultations continued in an enlarged format between the delegations of the two countries. Taking part in the talks on the Russian side were Presidential Aide Sergei Prikhodko, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Director of the External Intelligence Service Sergei Lebedev, Director of the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service Mikhail Dmitriyev, Head of the Federal Industry Agency Boris Alyoshin and President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Yevgeni Primakov. On the Egyptian side, along with the President, were Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, Foreign Trade Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali, Information Minister Muhammad Safuat al-Sherif, Head of the Intelligence Service Omar Suleiman and other officials. Among the many aspects of bilateral cooperation discussed were the political, trade-economic, energy, scientific-technical and humanitarian spheres as well as current issues on the international agenda. Special attention was paid to the situation in the Middle East and around Iraq, the chances of progress in the Arab-Israeli peace process, the fight against terrorism, and plans for broader Russian cooperation with the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
The two sides stressed the need to maintain and strengthen the leading role of the United Nations in the settlement of the Iraq crisis and pronounced themselves to be in favour of a new UN Security Council resolution that would envisage an early transfer of power to the Iraqi people, speedy restoration of Iraq’s sovereignty and the preservation of its territorial integrity. Vladimir Putin and Hosni Mubarak backed the idea of calling an international conference at which representatives of the Iraqi people, neighbouring countries, members of the UN Security Council and other states would be represented.
Based on the results of the talks, the Russian and Egyptian leaders made statements to the press and answered journalists’ questions.