BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri heads to Cairo on Wednesday on his first official visit for talks with top officials, including President Hosni Mubarak, his office said.
Hariri will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Ali Shami, Economy Minister Mohammed Safadi, Information Minister Tarek Mitri and other officials, a statement said.
He will also be accompanied for the first time by his wife Lara, who lives in Saudi Arabia with the couple s three children.
Hariri s visit comes after trips to France and Turkey earlier this month and after his landmark December trip to former arch-foe Syria, which he had accused in the past of the 2005 assassination of his father, ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
The visit also comes a day after an Egyptian prosecutor demanded the death sentence for 26 alleged militants of Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah.
The group, which include Lebanese, Palestinians and Sudanese, is accused of plotting attacks against ships in the Suez Canal and tourist sites, of spying, and other crimes.
The defendants say they never planned the attacks but sought to help the Islamist Hamas rulers of Gaza, who have close ties with Hezbollah.
The trial has reignited a war of words between Egypt, Hezbollah and its Iranian backers.
Egypt, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Shiite Iran, accuses Tehran of backing the plot. -AFP
