Putin urges Mubarak to help Israel and Palestine establish contact

Moscow, Nov 2 (UNI) Russian President Vladimir Putin today urged his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak to play a greater role to ensure establishment of contacts between Israel and Palestine.

After talks with Mr Mubarak in the Kremlin, Mr Putin said the ''Quartet'' of international mediators on West Asia must work more effectively and regional states, including Egypt, should also join in.

''We share the belief that the international mediators in the West Asian settlement must work more effectively and that the Quartet will only benefit if influential regional forces, including Egypt of course, join this work,'' he said The Russian President said, ''We believe that the Egyptian leadership could play a greater role in establishing contacts between Palestine and Israel and in attaining much needed accord in the Palestinians' ranks.'' Mr Mubarak said Egypt intended to set up free economic zones in the country for Russian companies.

''We intend to give them a free economic zone, allowing them to work under a preferential system and would be able to develop a broad range of production, including pharmaceuticals, work in oil and gas sphere and other sectors,' he added.

The Egyptian President has a long-standing links with Russia and the Soviet Union. A former pilot, he received part of his training in the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan and studied at a military academy in Moscow in the 1960s.

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