CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak will travel to Italy on Tuesday on his first trip abroad since undergoing surgery in March, the official MENA news agency reported.
Mubarak, who will be accompanied by several ministers, will meet President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the agency said on Sunday.
The meeting with Berlusconi will be the third Egyptian-Italian summit since the two countries launched a strategic partnership in Rome in 2008, MENA said.
The talks will focus mainly on "means of boosting ties in the fields of trade, investment, tourism, training Egyptian laborers and supporting small and medium sized enterprises," presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad told MENA.
The two leaders will also discuss regional developments, notably efforts to revive the stalled Middle East peace process, Awad said.
Mubarak, who turned 82 this month, underwent surgery to remove his gall bladder and a growth on the small intestine in Heidelberg, Germany on March 6.
He spent three weeks recovering in Germany, gradually taking on presidential duties as he continued his convalescence in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh where he has a residence.
Over the last weeks, the pace of his activity picked up, with the octogenarian hosting several leaders both in Sharm El-Sheikh and in Cairo.
Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981, has still not said whether he plans to run in next year’s presidential elections. His son Gamal is widely seen as a possible successor but has never made his presidential ambitions public.
