In France, the Egyptian Vice-President, Mohammad Hosni Mubarak, met the French President, Valery Giscard d'Estaing for talks on the situation in the Middle East on Monday (24 July). Mr Mubarak arrived in Paris on Sunday (23 July) on a short official visit.

SYNOPSIS: The talks were held at the Elysee Palace. Mr Mubarak is expected to visit Morocco and Iran after leaving France. His meeting with President Giscard d'Estaing came a week after the talks in London between the Egyptian Foreign Minister,Mohammad Ibrahim Kamel, the israeli Foreign Minister, Moshe Dayan and the United States Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance,on the latest developments in the search for a Middle East peace settlement.

After his lunch-time discussions with the French President, Mr Mubarak told newsmen that they had talked about the outcome of the London conference. He said Egypt was still prepared to reconvene peace negotiations with Israel despite the rejection by the Israeli government of the Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat's latest peace proposals. When Mr Kamel returned to Cairo after the London talks, he made it clear that he had not agreed to meet General Dayan for further discussions unless Israel made certain concessions along the lines of the Egyptian peace plan.

Mr Mubarak said President Sadat had stressed during a recent speech in Cairo, that he wanted to find a peace settlement with Israel but that he considered that the Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin was following an expansionist policy. President Sadat also said his personal relationship with the Israeli leader must not interfere with the search for peace. Mr Mubarak announced that President Giscard d'Estaing had invited President Sadat to Paris for further talks on the situation in the Middle East.